


Never Let Go

by naomilpick



Category: Big Time Rush
Genre: F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-02-27
Updated: 2012-02-27
Packaged: 2017-10-31 20:07:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/347887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naomilpick/pseuds/naomilpick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Big Time Rush has been in LA for a year. What happens when Logan's twin sisters come to visit? KendallxOC CarlosxOC and slight LoganxOC. No Slash!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Won't Let Go

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: In this story, James is gay and all his friends already know and accept him just the way he is. I didn't feel like writing a chapter where he has to come out of the closet, so he already is.

"All right class, make sure you read chapters 5 and 6 of The Scarlet Letter over the weekend," Mr. Brown said as he wrote the assignment on the white board, "and I want you to summarize what you read in no less than 700 words."

The class audibly groaned to let the English teacher know they were going to dread it. Mr. Brown picked up his desk chair and thrust it in the classes' direction, as if taming a lion. "Back, back, you animals."

Naomi Mitchell sat in her seat, giggling at the silliness of her teacher. She loved English. It was her favorite class of the day. One she actually understood. That probably had something to do with her liking it. But like every other student in the classroom she just wanted to go home.

She tapped her pencil on the desk, glancing at the clock every few seconds, trying to will the final bell to ring with her mind.

Even though she liked English 3, none of her friends were in this class with her. So she never really talked to anyone, even though she wasn't shy. She was just happy with her circle of friends. She had her twin sister, Anna, who was her best friend and confidant through thick and thin. Then there was her older brother, Logan, who was so smart you just wanted knock him a good one for it. Then there were his friends; James, Carlos, and Kendall, who were just as much her best friends as his. Naomi loved those guys. They'd grown up together in their small town in Minnesota.

When the bell finally rang, Naomi jumped up from her seat and ran out of the room to meet up with Anna, who was usually waiting for her by her locker.

"Whoa, where's the fire?" Anna asked as Naomi came charging towards her.

"I'm just really ready to go home," Naomi responded trying to regain control of her breathing.

Anna crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow. "Uh-huh. I'm sure that's all."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Naomi asked placing her hands on her hips.

"You know you just want to see Kendall."

"What? What on earth gave you that idea?" She whisper yelled at her older sister.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Please, I'm not blind. You like him, don't you?" She asked elbowing her sister in the side.

Naomi crossed her arms with insecurity, not meeting Anna's eyes. "So what if I do? He'll never like me back. I see the way he looks at Rebecca Conners from homeroom."

Anna placed her hands on her sister's shoulders, shaking her gently. "Girl, don't sell yourself short. You are so much better for him than Rebecca."

"You think?"

"No. I don't think. I know," Anna spoke confidently, her arms falling back to her sides.

As Naomi smiled at her sister's encouraging words, James sauntered up to them. "Hey, girls. Whatcha talking 'bout?"

"Oh, nothing but my undying love for you, James," Naomi replied sarcastically.

James ran his hand through his neatly styled hair. "Oh. Well, I am irresistible."

Naomi and Anna were both laughing when Kendall, Carlos, and Logan came running towards their little group. Naomi's stomach couldn't help the flips that just the sight of Kendall was causing within her.

"Hey guys," Carlos said trying to catch his breath, "Who's up for a little three on three hockey game at the rink this afternoon?"

"Oh, I'm game." Anna was always the more athletic of the Mitchell siblings, so anything involving sports, she was in to.

Even though Naomi was almost nearly as smart as her brother, Logan, she, unlike him, liked to put off her schoolwork for as long as possible, so she was willing to participate. "Me too. And how about losers buy the winners hot chocolate?"

"We can't decide stakes until we have teams picked out, Nomes." Logan rolled his eyes, as if that was obvious.

"Why not?" Naomi questioned, eyeing her brother.

Kendall, being the leader of the group, jumped in to offer his assistance, "Ok, how 'bout me, Anna, and Logan against James, Carlos, and Naomi?" He questioned no one in particular.

"Sounds good to me," James said running his lucky comb through his hair.

Carlos threw James a look, "Dude, are you seriously fixing your hair right now? We're about to go play hockey. You're gonna get helmet hair anyway."

"Hey I gotta look good on my way over there. Someone important could see me." He stated in a 'duh' tone of voice.

Everyone simultaneously rolled their eyes at the 'face' of the group.

"Alright, we got teams and a bet set. Are we going or what?" Kendall asked throwing his arms in the air.

Carlos patted the helmet he always wore on head twice before shouting, "Let's do this!"

The six friends headed out into the brisk Minnesota air, and made their way to ice rink, laughing about nothing in particular the entire time.

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

After lacing up their hockey skates and grabbing their sticks, the two teams of three made their way onto the ice. This was the rink where Naomi had met all her friends, but the memory that sticks out the most was when she met Kendall...

Flashback – 9 years ago

Naomi walked into the hockey rink with her sister and brother, grasping tightly to her mother's hand. "Sweetheart," she said, sinking down to her daughter's level, "go sit down on the bench over there, while Logan puts on his skates. I am going to go get Anna some. Stay with your brother, understand?"

Naomi nodded her vigorously, "Yes, mommy."

"That's my girl." She kissed her daughters forehead, and walked towards the rental counter.

Naomi, watching all the other kids gliding on the ice with smiles on their faces, sat down beside Logan as he laced up his skates. "I wanna skate, Logie." She whined, just like any other 6 year old would.

Anna was joining the county's peewee hockey team today, and Logan was already on the team. Naomi was beginning to feel kind of left out. "You have to ask Mommy, not me. Besides, don't you think you will just fall down, like you always do?" Logan remarked, smartly.

"I do not always fall down!" Naomi retorted.

Logan rolled his eyes at his younger sister. "You have more boo boos than me and Anna have together."

Naomi didn't say anything back, knowing he was right, but she couldn't help but want to skate anyway. Even though it was risky for the accident-prone little girl.

Sarah Mitchell made her way back through the crowd of parents that were there to cheer for their children. She sat down on the bleachers beside Naomi, helping Anna get her skates on.

As Logan and Anna skated onto the ice, Sarah felt a tugging at the hem of her shirt. "Mommy..." she looked down to her youngest child.

"What is it, sweetheart?" She asked sitting back down on the bleachers, while pulling Naomi into her lap.

Naomi looked up at her mother with pleading, puppy-dog eyes, that only a six year old could pull off. "I wanna skate like Logan and Anna."

"Honey, the last time you tried to skate, you fell and hurt yourself. Are you sure you want to do that again?" She questioned her daughter skeptically.

"Please, Mommy?" Naomi stuck out her bottom lip in a pout, knowing her mom couldn't resist that face, when she made it.

Sarah gave in. I guess she won't learn if she doesn't try. "Alright, Naomi. I'll go get you some skates. Stay right here." She said sternly, pointing a finger at her, so that Naomi would know that she meant business.

Naomi just nodded her head as her mother walked away. She watched Anna and all the other boys skate around and chase after the little black circle on the ice. "Go Logan!" Naomi shouted, standing up on the bench.

Anna skated by at that moment with an offended look on her face. "What about me?"

"Go Anna!" Naomi responded as more of a question than a statement.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks."

Naomi shrugged her shoulders and smiled at her sister sweetly. "Your welcome."

When Anna skated away, Naomi racked her eyes over the ice again. They stopped when she noticed one of the boys looking at her. She quickly looked away, feeling slightly embarrassed.

Sarah finally returned with two pairs of rental skates in her hands. A pair for her and a pair for Naomi. She grabbed Naomi's hand and led her to the rink that was designated for 'free skate', though there wasn't any other people out there because they were watching the hockey team. Sarah felt that was probably for the best, in case Naomi fell. She didn't need bigger people skating around Naomi, and accidentally skating over her fingers or something.

Naomi sat down as her mom put her skates on for her. Then watched as she laced her own skates.

Sarah held Naomi's hand as she led her onto the ice. Naomi held onto her mom's hand as tight as her little body would allow. But as she skated without wobbling, she gained some confidence. She began to loosen her grip on her mother, until she asked her to let go. She began to skate faster and faster. Sarah was telling her to 'slow down' and 'be careful', but Naomi wasn't registering her voice.

Naomi made her way around the corner of the rink, and when she looked up, she saw the boy that was staring at her earlier. He was watching her skate. She suddenly felt nervous with him staring at her, and she stopped paying attention to what she was doing. She began to wobble on her skates. She leaned the other way, in hopes of balancing herself, but it was no use. She lost all control of her skates, and with her arms flailing around in the air, she fell to the ice with an audible thud.

Sarah skated, quite rapidly, towards her daughter, who was trying to stand back up. "Are you okay, baby?" She asked, doing a thorough, but speedy, once-over of the little girl.

"Yea, I'm ok, Mommy." Naomi noticed that the boy was still standing there and had watched the whole event take place. She looked back towards her Mom, a slight blush creeping to her cheeks. She felt embarrassed that she couldn't even skate without falling down. What person who lived in Minnesota couldn't skate?

Naomi turned on her heels to follow her mother off the ice. The little boy that had been watching her, walked towards her, stopping Naomi when she stepped off the ice.

"Hey, are you okay? I saw you fall." He questioned, nothing but concern in his eyes.

Naomi smiled sweetly at the boy. "Yea, I'm okay. Thanks." Naomi made a move to walk past him, but he stopped her.

"Aren't you gonna try again?"

"Why should I? I'll probably just fall down again." Naomi stated with a frown on her face.

The boy grinned widely at Naomi. "Would you try again if I helped you?"

"Maybe." Naomi was trying, and failing, to hide her smile.

The boy grabbed Naomi's hand to lead her back to the ice. "C'mon. It's not hard. I promise I won't let go."

"Okay." Naomi followed him, but then stopped. "Wait. You never told me your name."

The boy turned and smiled down at Naomi. "My name's Kendall. What's yours?"

"Naomi." She followed Kendall onto the ice, and they skated around the rink, hand-in-hand. And just like Kendall promised, he never let go of Naomi's hand.

Present Day

James and Kendall were elected captains of the teams. The choice was mostly based on their skill, but their height also played a part in the decision process. Everyone voted unanimously that the first team to reach five points would be declared the winners.

James, knowing full well that Naomi had a thing for Kendall, decided it was in Naomi's best interest to have her face-off Kendall at the start of the game.

"Don't worry, Nomes. I'll go easy on you." Kendall said, throwing her a smile that melted her heart, not that she'd let him know that.

"Funny, I was gonna say the same thing to you, Kenny." Naomi replied sarcastically, using the nickname she had given him when she was seven.

When the puck was dropped, Naomi quickly gained control of the puck, feeding it James, who was to her right. She briefly stuck her tongue out at Kendall, and followed after James, passing the puck back and forth between the two of them.

As Naomi moved down the ice towards the goal, Anna came up behind her and stole the puck, moving it back in the opposite direction towards her team's goal. Anna passed the puck to Kendall who then proceeded to shoot it directly into the net.

Naomi jaw dropped. She couldn't believe they scored one on them so fast.

Kendall smiled his cocky smile, one the he picked up from playing hockey on the school team, who hadn't lost a game since playing Duluth East. "Well, I guess we know how the rest of the game is going to go."

"Yea, we'll see about that, big shot." Naomi murmured to herself as she lined up to receive the puck from James.


	2. Something About Him

Flashback- 2 years ago

"Happy Birthday!" Sarah yelled, running into her twin daughters' bedroom.

Anna groaned at her mother, while Naomi just rolled over to face the wall, both hoping their mom would get the hint and just let them sleep. It was Saturday. They were supposed to sleep in, especially since it was their birthday.

"Oh, come on girls. You don't want to sleep away your birthday, do you?" Sarah asked in an annoyingly sweet voice.

Naomi and Anna groaned and sat up at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed. It was a twin thing that they always did, doing things in sync, like it was planned.

Naomi looked back at her mother. "Can't we just sleep for a little while longer, Mom?"

"Don't you want to see your best friend on your birthday?" asked a voice coming from behind the door.

Naomi would recognize that voice anywhere. A smile overtook her face. "Kendall!" Naomi jumped out of bed when she saw Kendall walk into her and Anna's bedroom, not even caring that she was in her pajamas and her hair was a mess.

Kendall smiled and picked her up in tight hug, when she ran into his arms. "So, how's it feel to be a teenager?"

Sarah rolled her eyes and turned to walk out of the room. "Oh dear, three teenagers in the house. I'm in some serious trouble."

Kendall, Naomi, and Anna all laughed. Naomi, realizing she was still in Kendall's arms, pulled away, hiding a blush on her cheeks. "I don't feel any different than I felt yesterday, honestly."

"Well, I for one am ecstatic to finally be 13. Now we have finally caught up to you four losers." Anna said gesturing to Kendall and Logan, who had just walked into the room.

"Is that anyway to talk to someone who brought you birthday presents?" Logan asked, holding out two neatly wrapped box shapes with bows on top.

Anna and Naomi grabbed the gifts and started ripping into them simultaneously. They paused for just one second, staring at the gift with shocked expressions. "AHHHHHHHHH!" Naomi screamed at the top of her lungs.

Logan looked smug. "How awesome am I?" He asked as he was tackled by his younger sisters.

"How did you even get these?" Anna asked speaking for the first time since she opened the gift.

Naomi nodded in agreement. "Yea, the Linkin Park concert was sold out weeks ago."

"I have my ways." He smiled, being all mysterious about it. "And I scored enough tickets for all of us to go, Carlos and James too."

"Sweet!" Kendall chimed in, giving Logan a high-five. "Dude, that's awesome! Way better than what we had originally planned to do tonight."

Naomi was curious. "Wait, what was the original plan?"

Kendall smiled sweetly at Naomi and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, uh, just dinner and movie. But a concert is way cooler, don't ya think?"

Naomi just nodded her head.

"Where are Carlos and James anyway?" Anna asked because it was rare that the four boys were apart, except when they were sleeping.

"Oh, they are going to meet us there." Logan said, not wanting to give anything away.

"Meet us where?" Naomi asked.

Kendall put his arm around Naomi's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. "You'll see."

Naomi heart was practically leaping out of her chest. When did I start feeling this way around Kendall? It's not like I like him or anything. Though he is really cute. Wait, did I just think that? Stop it, Naomi. He probably doesn't even like me like that. I'm just like a little sister to him. Naomi thought to herself.

Logan's voice brought her out of her trance. "We'll leave you guys to get ready, but hurry up. We got the whole day planned."

"Alright, get out." Anna said pushing both of the boys out their bedroom door, obviously getting slightly irritated with all the secrecy. She was never one for surprises.

Naomi on the other hand couldn't wait to find out what the boys had in store for them today.

After Anna and Naomi had finished getting ready and looked in the mirror one more time to make sure everything was perfect, they headed downstairs to where the boys were seated in the living room.

"Okay, we're ready to go. Is what we are wearing alright, since you won't tell us where we are going?" Anna asked sarcastically.

Logan rolled his eyes at his younger sister. "It's a surprise, Anna."

"Logan, you know I hate surprises." She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Oh, come on, it's your birthday. Humor us."

"Fine." Anna made sure to sound very unenthusiastic about the whole ordeal.

"Well, are we gonna go or what?" Naomi could hardly contain her enthusiasm.

"Hold on, girls." Sarah called from the kitchen. She walked out carrying two small birthday bags. "I have a present for you before you leave."

Sarah handed her daughters the bags, and waited in anticipation for their reaction.

"Oh my Gosh!" Naomi and Anna yelled at the same time.

Kendall tried to peer around them to see what they got. "What is it?"

"She got us the iPhone 4!" The girls yelled at the same time…again.

Kendall smiled and rolled his eyes. "You guys have got to stop doing that."

"Alright, we gotta go, Carlos and James just text me that they're waiting on us." Logan gave his mom a kiss on the cheek. "Bye, Mom. You're taking us to the concert tonight, right?"

"Yep. We'll be leaving at 6. So, don't be late." She kissed each of her children's heads, including Kendall. "Have fun, kids."

"Bye, Mom. Thanks for the phone. I love you." Naomi said hugging her mom. Anna did the same when Naomi moved towards the door.

The four of them walked out the front door and down the porch steps. They walked on the sidewalk talking, laughing, and playfully pushing each other around.

After about 5 minutes of walking, the boys abruptly stopped in their tracks, causing the girls to bump into them. "Why'd you stop?" Naomi asked stepping around Kendall and Logan.

"Because we're here," Logan said in a 'duh' voice.

Naomi shoved her brother. "Just because you're older than me, doesn't mean that you can talk to me like that."

"Oh, I beg to differ, little sis."

Kendall stepped in between them, to stop whatever was about to start. "Alright, guys. That's enough. Carlos and James are inside waiting for us."

"Mel's Diner?" Anna asked rolling her eyes. "Seriously? That's the surprise? You guys can do better than that."

Logan scoffed and crossed his arms. "This is only the first stop. We have the whole day planned out for you two. Besides don't you want breakfast? It's the most important meal of the day."

The four teens walked into the diner, and made their way over to where James and Carlos were seated. Carlos and James were at the end of the table, across from each other. Anna took the seat next to James, while Naomi sat opposite her. Kendall took the seat to her right, and Logan took the last available chair next to Anna.

"Happy Birthday!" James and Carlos chorused in unison, pulling four birthday bags of different sizes off the floor. They handed two each to the smiling girls.

Naomi smiled at the two boys. "You guys didn't have to get us anything."

"Speak for yourself, little sister!" Anna said, already peeking into the bag.

Naomi huffed. "You are only older than me by, like an hour. Big deal."

"Still makes me older."

Carlos couldn't stand the wait any longer. "Come on, open your presents. Mine first."

Anna excitedly ripped into her gift first. Tissue paper the color of the rainbow was flying everywhere. "You got me a Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5 Camcorder?" Anna practically jumped out of her chair to hug Carlos. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Yeah, it's so you can record all those crazy stunts we're always trying to pull off. Thought it'd be cool to start putting them on the internet, see how many people would appreciate our craziness." Carlos sat in his seat with a smug grin on his face.

Anna leaned down to kiss Carlos on the cheek. "You're the best!"

"Yeah, Carlos. You're the best!" Kendall repeated mockingly.

Naomi smacked Kendall playfully on the arm. "Be nice, Kendall!" Kendall rolled his eyes. "Ok, it's my turn." Naomi tore into her present in quite the same manner as her sister. "Oh, Carlos. They're beautiful. But isn't earrings something a boyfriend would buy his girlfriend?" Naomi asked staring at the gorgeous white gold hoops in her hand.

Carlos threw his arm around Naomi's shoulder, while Naomi eyed him skeptically. "Yeah, I've been meaning to talk to you about that."

Naomi looked at Carlos then at his hand. She let out a small chuckle as she grabbed his hand and raised it over her head, dropping it on the table in front of him. "Uh, no."

James laughed. "Oh, rejected."

Carlos looked unfazed. "She knows I was just kidding." He turned his attention back to Naomi. "I saw you looking at them at the mall last week. I just thought you would like to have them for your birthday."

"Thank you, Carlos. I love them." Naomi pulled the hoops out of their box and put them in her ears.

"No problem, chica. I'm glad you like 'em."

James immediately perked up. "Oh, look our food's here. I'm starving." The waitress began sitting food in front of the six teenagers.

"Wait, I didn't order anything." Naomi had a confused expression on her face.

Carlos patted her on the shoulder. "No worries. We ordered for you guys. You get the same thing every time we come."

"Well, no arguments there. I do like their Cowboy Omelet. Best breakfast in town." Kendall said as his mouth watered when his food was sat in front of him.

Anna smiled up at Carlos when the waitress handed her, her food. "Chocolate chip pancakes. You know me so well, Carlitos."

Carlos shrugged his shoulders and smiled, while digging into his own breakfast.

"Alright, if you kids need anything, just give me a holler." The waitress turned and walked back into the kitchen, after we all muttered a 'thank you'.

James hurriedly swallowed his bite of food. "Okay, it's time for you to open my presents!" He was getting really excited. He was practically out his seat.

"Alright, alright. Calm down." Anna placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him from bouncing.

Anna and Naomi ripped into the presents at the same time. They stopped and looked at each other before looking back at the present. All the guys burst into a fit of laughter, knowing exactly what was in the bags.

"Tampons?" Anna asked unamused.

"Please tell me you're joking?" Naomi's face was flushed a bright shade of red from embarrassment.

James tried to get a grip on his laughter, but Kendall, Carlos, and Logan were still snickering in the background. "Oh, I am. I just wanted to see the reaction on your faces when you opened a box of tampons for your birthday." He began laughing again. "I gotcha good, didn't I?"

"Ha ha," Anna replied sarcastically. "Now where is my real gift?"

"You'll just have to wait." James shoved another bite of food into his mouth. "The real gift is a surprise."

Anna let out her breath in a huff. "Again with the surprises? Haven't you tortured me enough for one day?"

"Trust me, you'll like this surprise," he said grinning smugly.

They finished their breakfasts quickly and quietly, so they could do whatever else the boys had planned for them today. After Kendall paid the check (he was the only one with a job), they left Mel's and headed out into the brisk Minnesota air.

"Ok, so where are we going now?" Naomi asked to no one in particular.

"I actually have to go check on something in the store at the ice rink." Kendall smirked suspiciously at the other three boys without Naomi or Anna noticing.

The girls thought nothing of it and agreed. "Alright let's move then," Carlos said running ahead out of excitement.

Naomi leaned in to whisper in James' ear. "So, do you have any idea what Kendall has planned for me and Anna today?"

"Well, duh, but it would be wrong of me, as his best friend," James said placing his hand to his chest, "to say anything to the birthday girl."

Naomi scoffed. "Well that's not fair. I'm your best friend too." Naomi's puppy dog face was almost too much for James to resist, but after years of knowing Kendall's little sister Katie, it wasn't quite so hard.

"That's not going to work this time, Naomi." Naomi pouted and crossed her arms as she walked ahead a few feet, with James laughing behind her.

The six friends strode into the ice rink, laughing at some crazy antic that Carlos had done.

Kendall turned to his friends, "Ok, I'll be right back. Gotta see if my new hockey gear came in yet."

"Alright, we'll just be over there by the rink," James said, clapping Kendall on the shoulder before he walked away.

"So, girls, what do you feel like doing after Kendall is finished with his little side trip?" Carlos questioned.

Anna seemed to think for a second. "Well, since we are already here, why don't we play a small game of hockey?"

James looked down at his watch. "Let's see, it's about 10:30 now, so I think we got time to fit in a little, friendly competition."

Carlos excitedly clapped his hands together, and Logan smirked at James, knowing exactly what was coming.

Kendall came running up behind Anna. "Here, maybe this will improve your game." Kendall placed a new hockey stick in front of Anna's face. Anna grabbed the stick and spun around to face Kendall with a shocked expression on her face. "Happy Birthday!"

"You got me a new hockey stick?" Anna asked with unbelief still evident in her voice.

Kendall shrugged. "Yea, well I was noticing how beaten up your old one was looking and I thought you could use a new one for the game next weekend." Anna practically tackled Kendall in a hug.

"Thank you so much, Kendall. This is awesome." She released Kendall from her grasp and turned to face her other friends. "Who's up for that game now?" Anna asked smugly.

"Bring it, Mitchell." Carlos said confidently.

Logan looked back at Kendall, who was staring at Naomi. "Hey, Kendall, you guys playing?"

"Uh, no. Me and Nomes are gonna sit this one out." Naomi turned at looked at him confused, and he winked at her, making her blush and look away.

"Alright, suit yourselves." Logan followed James, Carlos, and Anna to get their skates.

Naomi watched Logan walk away then turned to face a smirking Kendall. "What was that about?"

Kendall shrugged his shoulders. "I just wanted to spend some time with my best friend." Kendall pulled a package from behind his back that Naomi hadn't noticed before. "I also wanted to give you these," he said handing her the box.

"What is these?" Naomi asked shaking the box.

Kendall chuckled. "You have to open it to find out, smart one."

Naomi stuck her tongue out at her blonde friend.

"Very mature."

Naomi proceeded to open the box, but found it taped shut. "Do you have your pocket knife with you?"

"Yea." Kendall pulled out his knife and slid it across the tape of the box.

"Thank you." Kendall smiled brightly at Naomi, making her heart flutter in her chest. I don't understand where these feelings are coming from. I mean, this is Kendall, my best friend. But…could we ever be anything more? Naomi thought as she finished opening the box.

Naomi gasped at what she saw. In the box was a brand new pair white ice skates. She looked back to Kendall. "You bought me skates? These must of cost of fortune." She pulled one of the skates out of the box to admire it more closely.

"Doesn't matter how much it cost. You're totally worth every penny."

Naomi chuckled to herself. "That was so cheesy, Kendall."

"Well, it's the truth."

Naomi scoffed. "Yeah, whatever." Naomi noticed a note attached to the skate she had taken out of the box. She grabbed it with her thumb and index finger, while she read the messy handwriting.

Happy 13th Birthday, Naomi. Hope you have the best day ever. Love always, Kendall.

P.S. I won't let go. I promise.

Naomi smiled to herself. "I can't believe you remember that." She looked up into Kendall's beautiful green eyes, getting lost in the depths of them.

"How could I forget? That was one of the best days of my life."

Naomi looked down hiding the blush that creeping up her cheeks. She seemed to be doing that a lot around him lately.

Naomi felt two strong arms wrap around her in a warm embrace. She reached her arms up around his neck and held him close, not wanting to let him go. "Thank you so much," Naomi whispered in Kendall's ear.

Kendall felt Naomi's breath against his ear, causing his spine to tingle. I like her so much, but there is no way I could ever tell her. It's not she would even like me that way. She only thinks of me as a friend. Kendall thought to himself, as he finally released Naomi from his arms.

"So, do you want to try them out?" Kendall asked gesturing to the skates.

Naomi nodded her head. "You won't let go?"

Kendall smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it." He grabbed Naomi's hand and led her to the empty rink across from them.

BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR

Present Day

"I can't believe you beat me!" Kendall stared at Naomi, who had just shot the winning goal, ending the game at 5-3.

Naomi had a smug expression on her face. "Well, I guess I'm just good like that."

"Hey, we had some part in that win, guys." Carlos said turning to wander off the ice.

Naomi and Kendall followed behind him and James, giggling to themselves. Naomi and Kendall's hands brushed against each other as they made their way over to the bleachers to remove their skates, and Naomi couldn't help the butterflies that stirred in her belly.

They all sat down to remove their skates, chatting away with each other, like a group of best friends would. Carlos, James, Anna, and Logan finished taking off their skates first, and they got up and made their way to snack bar, so Anna and Logan could buy the other two their hot chocolates, leaving Naomi and Kendall sitting on the bleachers alone.

"You played a good game, Naomi." Kendall clapped his hand on her shoulder. Unbeknownst to Naomi, Kendall felt a jolt of electricity shoot up his arm and through his shoulders at the contact. He removed his hand immediately, not understanding what he was feeling. "Uh, I think I owe you a hot chocolate," Kendall said nervously, standing to his feet.

Naomi followed his example and stood, looking up into his beautiful green eyes. Without her skates on, Naomi was a whole head shorter than Kendall, making her the perfect height for him to slip one of his arms around her shoulders. Naomi's stomach was doing flips at Kendall's touch.

They walked to the snack area where they saw the rest of their sitting and laughing in a circle. "Aww, you two would make such a cute couple." Anna winked discreetly at Naomi. "Don't you guys think so?" She asked looking at the other three.

"Yeah, definitely." James eyed his best friend, telling him silently, 'Dude, you need to make a move.'

Kendall seemed to get the message. "We'll be right back guys. I still have to buy Naomi her hot chocolate."

"With mini marshmallows?" She inquired of the taller boy.

"You can have it however you want it. Your team won the game." He said poking her in the side, making a slight squeal erupt from her lips. In return, she lightly smacked him in the arm, telling him to stop. Kendall just chuckled at the pouty look on her face.

They walked away from their friends, towards the counter. They ended up having to wait in a line, Kendall feeling nervous about what he was planning on doing.

'Come on, Kendall. You can ask her to be your girlfriend. You've known her since you were in pre-k.' The line continued to move forward, as he struggled with himself internally.

"Can I help whose next?" The young woman behind the counter asked, bringing Kendall out of his thoughts.

"Uh, yeah. Can I get two hot chocolates with mini marshmallows, please?" Kendall asked passing a five across the counter.

The woman, whose name tag read Erin, smiled widely at Kendall. "Sure thing, sweetie. Your total comes to $2.89." She took the five Kendall offered and handed back his change, plus the two hot chocolates. "And $2.11 is your change. Have a great day, sir." Erin said, no doubt shamelessly flirting with Kendall. He threw a kind, warm smile as they walked away. Naomi couldn't stop the pang of jealousy that she felt, wishing she could be on the receiving end of that smile and not 'Erin'. Even in her head, she made a sound of disgust at her name.

Naomi walked back toward the other four members of their group, but was stopped by Kendall grabbing hold of her wrist. "Hey, can I talk to you, real quick?" Naomi noticed how Kendall was kind of fidgety, which only confused her.

"Yea, sure, Kendall. What's up?" Naomi asked, noting how he bit his lower lip, a nervous habit of his. So, he's definitely worried about something, Naomi thought to herself. I wonder what it could be.

Before she could even react, Kendall had lips pressed against hers. It was short and sweet, but it got the point across. Kendall pulled away to see a shocked look cross Naomi's features.

Thinking this wasn't a good reaction, he began rambling. "Oh, my gosh. I'm sorry. You didn't want me to kiss you. You probably don't even like me that. I was so stupid to make that move. Please, don't be mad at me? Your friendship means the world…" He was silenced by a finger to his lips.

As Naomi regained her composure, and got over the initial shock of what just happened, she looked up into Kendall's eyes, finally confident that he felt the same way that she did. She flashed him her best smile, and leaned in to, softly, kiss him once more. After all they were in a public place.

They both faintly registered the cheering coming from their friends, as Naomi broke the kiss this time. Kendall had the biggest goofy grin plastered on his face. As looked at Naomi, she mirrored his expression.

"So, does this mean you'll be my girlfriend?" Kendall asked, pretty much knowing the answer before Naomi spoke it.

"What do you think?" Naomi asked as she leaned up to peck Kendall on the lips once more.

Kendall smirked against the kiss. 'It can't get much better than this.'


	3. Here Comes Goodbye

"What do you mean, 'You're leaving'?" Naomi squealed at the news that Kendall had just told her.

Kendall, who had been intrigued by the designs in the carpeting, looked into Naomi's eyes. "You know how James is always on about being famous?" When Naomi nodded silently, he continued. "Well, to make a long story short, we saw an ad on the TV talking about getting a chance to live it big time. So, we rushed James to the audition as fast as we could, and made it there just in time. But this assistant made all of us try out. And apparently, the producer liked me instead of James."

"I bet he didn't like that very much," Naomi interrupted without so much of smirk on her face.

Kendall could tell she wasn't taking this news very well. But he continued his story nonetheless. "Well, no he didn't, but he was madder that I turned down the offer, until I had the idea to make a deal with the producer, so that we all could go and make a singing group together."

A tear rolled down Naomi's cheek. "And now you're going to L.A." More tears started to race down her cheeks without her consent. She looked down in attempt to hide her tear-stained face from Kendall.

"No, baby, please don't cry?" Kendall grabbed his girlfriend's face gently, and made her look up into his eyes. He stroked the pads of his thumbs across her cheeks, removing any and all traces of tears on her face. He leaned in to kiss her gently on the lips, but just before he could seal his lips over hers, Naomi turned her head away, which was difficult since his hands were still grasping her cheeks.

"Don't." Naomi felt Kendall's hands fall away from her face. Without looking back into his beautiful green eyes, she would surely break if she did, Naomi turned her back to Kendall. "Maybe it's better if we just end it here. Right now."

Naomi could here Kendall's soft gasp. "You don't mean that." Kendall gripped Naomi's shoulders and spun her around. "Please, don't do this?"

"Don't you know that 83% of all long distance relationships are doomed to fail?" Naomi had this habit, like her brother, of raddling off statistics when she didn't want to face a problem.

Kendall gently moved a strand of hair from her face. "You know you're starting to sound a lot like Logan? Who cares about some stupid statistic? I really care about you." He cupped Naomi's cheek and gazed into her beautiful hazel eyes. "I don't want to lose you."

Naomi looked down once more, in fear that she would start crying in front of Kendall again. "I'm sorry, Kendall." She pulled out of Kendall's arms and turned on her heels to walk out the front door, not chancing a glance back to Kendall's hurt face. She would just end up running back to him and apologizing. She just had to leave. Now.

BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR

Naomi ran through her front door, trying to avoid any contact with her family, not wanting them to see her in such a vulnerable state. But the effort was all in vain. Anna was sitting on the living room couch watching the Minnesota Wild's hockey game on ESPN.

Anna glanced up when she heard the door slam open. "Hey, Naomi. How did your…time with Kendall…go?" Anna saw Naomi's tears and jumped up from the couch to comfort her sister. "What happened, Nomies?" Anna was worried. Naomi never cried. 'This isn't good. Something must have happened between her and Kendall.'

Naomi sobbed into Anna's shoulder. "He's…leaving." She choked to get just those two little words out.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Anna asked, confused at her sister's previous statement.

Naomi wiped her eyes and nose. "Kendall is going to L.A. along with James, Carlos, and even Logan." More tears started to fall. "That was the deal that Kendall made with the producer. He said he wouldn't go anywhere without his f-friends." Naomi's voice broke on the last word.

Anna scoffed. "So, their just ditching us?" Naomi nodded. "LOGAN!" Anna shouted angrily at her older brother.

Logan came running in, in a panic at his sister's tone. "What, what, what?"

"How could you not tell me?" Anna asked with a look on her face that showed she didn't want to be messed with.

Logan racked his brain, trying to come up with what she would be going about, but was coming up blank. "What are you talking about, Anna?"

"When did you plan on telling me you guys were leaving? When you were jumping in the car to drive off?" Anna was seething, and Logan was slightly afraid of her.

Logan took in a shaky breath. "Look, I was gonna tell you soon."

Anna rolled her eyes and looked at Naomi. "Can I slap him?" she questioned seriously. Naomi gave her a gesture that told her to go ahead. Anna reached out and hit Logan on his shoulder, pretty hard too.

"Ow!" Logan grabbed his arm, rubbing up and down to stop it from stinging. "What was that for?"

"For being an idiot!"

Naomi made her way towards her and Anna's bedroom, still listening to Anna and Logan scream at each other. She walked over to the desk, flipped open her laptop, and pushed the power button to start it up.

While she was waiting, she looked on her desk and noticed the picture of her and Kendall on her 10th birthday. Kendall had his arm draped around Naomi's shoulders, while the both of them were trying to regain control of their laughter. Sarah Mitchell had thought that the moment between the two was 'priceless', and she 'just had to take a picture'. It ended up being Naomi's favorite picture of her and Kendall, so she had no problems with it. She had loved it so much, she asked her mother to make a copy, so she could give it to Kendall.

But, now that she thought about it, Naomi had never seen the picture in Kendall's room. 'It must have not held the same meaning for him, as it did for me.'

A ping sound from her computer brought her out of her thoughts. She looked at the screen and noticed a video chat request from 'prettyboy923'. 'James', she thought shaking her head. She didn't really want to talk to anyone at this particular moment, but James always had a way of making her feel better, so she clicked the 'accept' button. James face instantly popping up on the screen.

"Hey, Baby Girl. How you holding up?" James asked, concern lacing his words.

Naomi sighed. "I guess he told you what happened?"

"We do tend to tell each other when someone breaks our heart."

Naomi didn't say anything, as she began to feel guilty about what had happened between her and Kendall, but she had to hold strong in her decision. It was for the best.

"What happened, Nome?"

"You know what happened. I called it off."

"But I don't understand why. You love him. Even if you haven't said it to him yet, I can see it in your eyes when you look at him."

"He's the one that's leaving, not me. Long distance relationships just don't work."

"That's just an excuse. He cares about you. And he would make it work."

Naomi was trying to fight back the tears that threatened to spill from her, already, red-rimmed eyes. "You're going to L.A., Jamie. He'll surrounded by tons of beautiful women, and he doesn't need some small-town girl back in Shakopee, Minnesota, holding him back."

"But he wants that small-town girl. Why is it so hard for you to understand that?"

I faintly registered a voice in the background, yelling 'James, come down stairs, please!' "Guess you gotta go?"

"Yea, I do. But hey, don't worry. Everything will turn out okay."

"How could possibly know that?"

"This is me you're talking to. Have I ever steered you wrong?"

"Uh…yea. Don't you remember that one time…"

James immediately interrupted Naomi. "Hey, we said we'd never speak of that again."

Naomi just laughed. "Yea, I know." Another scream was heard in the background and James jumped up from his chair.

"I gotta go before she really gets mad. Love you, Baby Girl."

"Love you too, Jamie."

"I'll call you later." Before Naomi could respond, the video feed was cut, leaving behind the phrase 'Video feed has been disconnected by user'.

Another sound was heard from her laptop, signaling that a user had just signed on. Looking at her buddy list, she noticed 'KnightNShiningArmor' had signed on. She laughed to herself as she went to sign out, knowing that he chose that screen name because of her when he said, "and I'll be your 'Knight' in shining armor."

Before she could hit the 'log out' button, he sent her a message.

KnightNShiningArmor: Naomi, I kno ur probly bout to sign off cuz you saw me online, but just wait a second.

NoMi-LyN: u kno me so well. What do u want, Kenny?

KnightNShiningArmor: plz don't just give up on us?

NoMi-LyN: I don't want us to end, but I can't…I just can't do it.

KnightNShiningArmor: can't do what?

NoMi-LyN: this, us being apart. It'll tear me apart. Don't you get it?

KnightNShiningArmor is typing…

KnightNShiningArmor: I never meant to hurt u, u know?

NoMi-LyN: I know, but it happened anyway.

NoMi-LyN: Look, I gotta go. Logan and Anna are trying to kill each other.

NoMi-LyN has signed off…

Kendall sighed as he shut his computer down. "Bye, Naomi," he muttered to himself, as he stood up from his chair. He went to lie down in his bed, without changing into his pj's, and covered himself in the thickness of his comforter. Against his will, tears started rolling down his cheeks.

That was the first night that he cried himself to sleep over the only girl he's ever loved.

BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR

Flashback – First Date

"Kendall, where are we going?" Naomi asked as Kendall dragged her behind him, with a blindfold over her eyes.

Kendall stopped them in their tracks and turned to face her, even though she couldn't see him. "I can't tell you. I'm trying to be romantic."

"Not telling me where we're going is not romantic, it's just irritating." Kendall chuckled as Naomi placed her hands on her hips.

"Alright, you caught me. I just want to irritate you."

Naomi scoffed at her boyfriend. "Ha ha. Very funny, Kenny."

Kendall started pulling Naomi along again. "Come on, we're almost there."

Naomi let all her breath out in a huff. "This better be worth it." She whispered it mostly to herself, but Kendall heard her and laughed.

"Don't worry, Babe. You'll love it."

Kendall brought them to stop in the middle of the park, right in front of the lake. He stepped behind his girlfriend, and untied the blindfold, letting it fall away from her eyes. His heart jumped when he heard the pleasured gasp that came out of Naomi's mouth as she took in the site of the romantic and girly picnic that her boyfriend had set up for them.

"I guess you like the surprise then?" Kendall asked with a smile on his face.

Naomi turned and placed a chaste kiss to his awaiting lips. "It's perfect, like you."

Kendall laughed at Naomi's comment. "Wow that was kind of sappy."

"Shut up," she said as she playfully punched him in the arm.

Naomi shivered as the Minnesota air blew passed her body, making goose bumps rise on her flesh. Kendall noticed and immediately pulled off his leather jacket, placing it on her shoulders. "Here take my jacket. I don't want you to be cold."

Naomi smiled up at him. "Aww, look at you trying to be all romantic. Who said chivalry was dead?"

Kendall flashed his signature smirk, and leaned in to kiss her again. Naomi smiled against his lips, as she wrapped her arms around his neck, and continued kissing him under the moonlight.

BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR

Present Day

James huffed as he threw the last of the suitcases into the back of Mrs. Knight's minivan. "Alright, I think that's it. Did I miss anything?"

Logan and Carlos rolled their eyes. "Yea, James, you forgot all of our stuff. You only packed you're six suitcases." Logan began to try to cram the rest of the boy's things into the car.

Anna and Carlos were sitting on the curb, laughing, while they discussed the crazy schemes and pranks Carlos planned to pull while he was in Los Angeles. Sarah Mitchell hovered close behind her son, making sure he hadn't forgotten anything, but in reality she just wasn't ready to let her little boy go so far away without her. James had pulled out his lucky comb, for the fifth time that morning, and was fixing his hair in the minivan mirror. Everyone's family was there to say good-bye to the four boys. Everyone except…

"Mrs. Mitchell?" Kendall asked while he frantically looking up and down the sidewalk.

Sarah turned away from the hug (or current choke hold) she had on her son. "Yes, honey?"

Kendall dropped his head when he saw no sign of her. "Is she even gonna come say good-bye?"

"I don't know, Kendall." Sarah smiled apologetically at the boy who was a like a son to her. "Naomi's taking this pretty hard."

Kendall slowly nodded his head in understanding, and moved to sit down on the edge of the van, fighting his tears because he refused to let his friends and family to see him so broken.

"Alright, boys, the plane leaves in an hour and half. We gotta get going." Mrs. Knight patted her son on the back sympathetically. Everyone gave their last hugs to Katie, Mrs. Knight, and the four boys as they began to load up in the van.

A small, almost broken, voice was heard over all the muttered 'good-byes' and 'good lucks' that were being given. "Wait, don't I get to say good-bye to my favorite boys before their halfway across the country?" Naomi, much like Kendall, was trying to control her emotions, but wasn't having quite as much luck as the green-eyed boy.

James, who had taken his place in the front seat of the van, rushed to engulf Naomi in a tight, bear hug. "What took you so long to get here, Baby Girl?" He whispered into her ear, so no one else, mostly Kendall, could hear.

Naomi understood what he was asking her instantly. "He's pretty damn lucky I came to say good-bye at all." James gave her a knowing glance. "Look, you better text me every day, and video chat with me at least once a week. I want to know everything that happens while you're there. You hear me?" James chuckled, but nodded his head as he pulled away, allowing Logan and Carlos to hug her as well. She muttered her 'I love you and good luck' to both of them as they wrapped their arms around her shoulders.

Then came time to say good-bye to him. The hardest good-bye of all. "Bye, Kendall." Naomi barely looked into his smoldering green eyes. "I wish you the best in L.A."

Kendall looked around as everyone got silent; their eyes locked on the 'should-be' couple. He shot them all a look, one they all immediately knew meant 'Could you please leave us be?' They got the hint and all began talking amongst themselves again.

Kendall cleared his throat nervously. "So, I guess this is it?"

"I guess it is." Naomi said with sadness in her voice. "You guys will be great in California."

Kendall held out his arms for Naomi to, willingly, walk into a hug. Instead, of just shaking his hand like she had originally planned to do, she latched on to Kendall with all the might she could muster from her body. He wrapped his arms around her waist and inhaled the familiar scent of lavender that was Naomi, memorizing it and burning it into his brain. "I'm gonna miss you, Nomes," he said resorting to her old childhood nickname.

"'M gonna miss you too," she said resting her head against his chest, voice slightly muffled by the fabric of his t-shirt.

Naomi pulled away, and Kendall started to get into the van. He turned to face her one more time, mouthing 'good-bye' before he disappeared into the back seat behind the sliding door.

Anna came to stand beside her twin sister, and grasped her hand in a comforting gesture. Naomi squeezed back, silently thanking her.

Mrs. Knight shouted one more "Good-bye and We love you" before getting in the van and pulling away. Naomi looked up and saw Kendall waving out the back window. She raised her hand in a small wave back to him. 'Why does love have to hurt so much?' That was her last thought as the van disappeared around the corner.

"Remember, it's not good-bye forever," Sarah said as she patted her hand on Naomi's shoulder.

Naomi knew that her mother's words were true, but that didn't make any of this any easier on her.


	4. Until You're Mine

11 Months Later

Anna Mitchell had just gotten home from her afternoon hockey practice. The sixteen-year-old teenager plopped down onto the couch, and settled in to watch the game (and it didn't even matter what game it was, she just wanted to watch some sports). She started flipping through the channels, finally stopping when she found the Vikings playing the Green Bay Packers on ABC. Minnesota was up by two touchdowns in the third quarter.

"Yes! Come on Harvin." Anna jumped up off the couch in the heat of moment as Joe Webb passed the ball to the wide receiver, who ran the ball down the field and into the end zone for another touchdown, making the score 28-7. "Woohoo!" Anna broke out into her victory dance, at the same time that Naomi came barreling into the living room. Swiping the remote from under Anna's nose, Naomi changed the channel to MTV.

"Hey! I was watching the game!" Anna yelled at her sister.

Naomi dramatically rolled her eyes. "Well, there is something more important coming on."

"What is more important than sports?"

Naomi pulled out her cell phone, opening her received text messages, and tossed the phone to Anna.

Turn on MTV. BTR is gonna b on 10 on top. –James

Anna looked up to the TV as the faces of the band were flashed on the screen while the song 'Big Night' played in the background. "And, after the break, we will be joined by the next big thing that is taking the world by storm. The band formally known as Big Time Rush. We'll be right back."

Anna's jaw dropped in surprise. "Mom! Get in here!"

Sarah Mitchell ran into the living room, in a slight rush, carrying a basket of neatly folded laundry on her hip. "What is it, Anna?"

"The guys are gonna be on TV." Anna said while pointing at the screen in front of them. "Naomi got a text from James."

Naomi sat staring at the TV screen. "Shhh, be quiet." Naomi said waving her hands at her mother and twin sister, without looking away from the television.

"Oh, shut up, Naomi. It's just a bunch of commercials." Anna rolled her eyes at the youngest Mitchell sibling.

"It's not just a commercial." Naomi snapped back at her sister. "It's a commercial for the brand new iPad." She sighed longingly. "I have to have one!"

Anna looked at her sister like a third eye had grown in the middle of her forehead. "You are such a nerd!"

Naomi scoffed at Anna. "Yea, well…you're…such a…a jock!"

"That was all you come up with?" Anna said unimpressed with her sister's comeback. "Seriously? It was lame."

Naomi stuck her tongue out at her sister, who returned the gesture. Naomi looked away from Anna and back at the TV. "Oh, look, the show's back on."

Naomi's eyes became glued to the TV as the host introduced the boys. "And now, help me in welcoming the popular singing group, Big Time Rush." The four boys walked onto the stage, waving at the audience as they took their seats on the couch beside the host.

Naomi's heart skipped a beat the second she saw Kendall on the screen. Over the last 11 months, Naomi had tried getting over Kendall. But all the other relationships she had been in since he left never lasted more than a month. Her mind kept wondering back to Kendall whenever she was with her current beau, and she would end up breaking it off before they got too serious. Needless to say, Naomi wasn't doing so well letting go.

"So, first off, how do four boys from a small town in Minnesota end up here in L.A. singing for the great Gustavo Rouque?" the host asked gesturing to the band.

Kendall was the first to speak up, seeing as he was the unofficial leader of the group. "Well, Samantha, it all started with James' dream to be famous. We saw an ad on the TV one day about a year ago, and we rushed James to the audition." Kendall paused and looked to his right at James, signaling him to continue with the story.

"But the funny thing was that we all ended up auditioning, and Gustavo ended up liking Kendall instead of me. And to make a long and boring story short, Kendall made a deal with Gustavo so that all of us could come to L.A. to record a demo, and here we are a year later talking to you on MTV." James had that sparkle in his eye that he always had when he talked about wanting to be famous.

"Wow, what an awesome opportunity." The host shifted slightly in her seat, seeming to move closer to the boys. "Now, I hear that you are preparing for your first concert here in L.A. that is coming up in two months, am I correct?"

Logan spoke first this time. "Yes, we are. We have actually been recording some new music just for the concert. I think the fans are gonna be very happy with our new material."

As the host continued to interview the guys, Naomi heard her mother, very obviously, sigh across the room.

Naomi glanced up at her mom with a questioning look. "What's up, Mom?"

"I was just thinking." Sarah had a smug expression on her face.

Anna looked back at her mom, curiously. "Thinking about what, Mom?"

"Don't you think it would be great to see your brother's concert in person?" Sarah asked with a grin on her face.

"Mom, what's going on?" Naomi asked, getting really suspicious of her mother.

Sarah pulled out two pieces of rectangular paper, fanning herself with them. "I think it's about time for you to go see your brother. I figure a year is too long to be apart." Anna and Naomi had stood up from the couch and walked over to their mother, eyeing her skeptically. "So, I got you plane tickets to L.A. for the concert."

Naomi and Anna's jaws dropped. Naomi regained her composure first. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah." Sarah's grin seemed to widen some more. "And, since you are already there, you might as well stay for the whole summer."

"Oh my gosh, Mom!" Anna yelled, practically jumping her mother in a hug.

Naomi yelled in much the same manner. "I can't believe you did this!"

Sarah felt she could gloat a little bit. "Yeah, well, I am pretty awesome."

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

Naomi and Anna made their way out of LAX airport towards the taxi cab that was waiting by the curb for them. "Where to, Ladies?" asked the scruffy looking cabby.

"The Palm Woods Hotel," Anna responded, settling into the seat, with Naomi getting in behind her. The cabby put all the girls' luggage into the trunk of the car and then got in and pulled away at a ridiculously fast speed. Anna leaned into to whisper into her sister's ear, so the cab driver didn't hear her. "Is it just me, or does this guy seem to drive like the cabby in 'Crazy Taxi'?"

Naomi nodded; her eyes so big from fright that they could pop right out of her head. She clung to her sister's hand, like she was hanging on for her dear life. "I hope we make it out of this alive, Anna." Naomi said it as a joke, but meant it to be totally serious.

The girls made it to the Palm Woods in about seven minutes, probably because of the speed they were going. Naomi hopped out of the car, glad to be on solid ground, and grabbed the bags out of the car, while Anna paid the cab driver. "You didn't leave a tip, did you?" Naomi asked as the cab left them standing in front of the building.

"No," Anna scoffed, "he didn't deserve one."

"That's for sure." Naomi agreed and walked into the hotel. They walked towards the front desk and saw a man, who they assumed was the manager, typing on a computer. "Excuse me, Mr.…" Naomi trailed off glancing at the nameplate on the desk, "Bitters?"

The man behind the desk glanced up, looking over his glasses on his nose. "Can I help you?"

Anna nodded her head. "Yes. Could you tell us which room Logan Mitchell is staying in?"

Mr. Bitters' expression changed into one of loathing. "Yes Ma'am. The hockey-head and his friends are staying in apartment 2J."

"Thank…you." Naomi said wondering why he was talking in that tone of voice after the mention of her brother's name.

"Naomi?" A voice called out from behind them. "Anna?" They turned around and saw James, who had just come inside from the pool. He looked a little dumbstruck at seeing the girls here in L.A.; they had, after all, kept it a secret from all the boys.

Naomi smiled sheepishly at James. "Surprise."

James regained his composure and ran towards the girls, wrapping them both in a giant hug. "What are you guys doing here?" He asked as he let them go, a smile now permanently etched on his features.

"We came to spend the summer with Big Time Rush." Naomi said as if it was obvious.

James's smile widened more, which seemed impossible. "You mean you're here for the whole summer?"

"Yeah, you get me and Anna to yourselves for three whole months." Naomi smirked at her abnormally tall friend.

At that moment, the rest of the guys came rushing in, stopping in front of James. He turned around to stare at them, effectively blocking the girls from their line of vision with his tall form. "Hey, guys, what's going on?" He asked smirking at his friends, who were trying to catch their breath.

"Gustavo needs us in the studio. Now," Kendall said, breathing heavily. "Let's go. Preferably before he gets Freight Train involved."

James' smirk never left his face as he watched his friends in front of him. "I think he can wait a few minutes."

"No, he can't. I really don't feel like dying today," Logan piped up.

"So he would kill you before you got to your sisters again?" Anna asked from behind James' shoulder.

"Yea, I wouldn't put it past…" Logan froze mid-sentence. His head darted around in a circle, trying to locate where his sister's voice had originated from. "Anna? Was that you?" he asked still frantically searching the lobby.

Anna and Naomi came into Logan's view after James had stepped to the side reveling who he had been talking to. The twin's smiled at their older brother's shocked expression. "Are you surprised?" Naomi asked smirking devilishly.

Logan finally got a hold of himself, and engulfed his little sisters in a bear hug. "Yeah, when did you get here, anyways?"

"Our plane landed about a half hour ago." Anna said pulling out of the embrace. She looked over at the rest of the band, who still hadn't said anything. "Are you guys just gonna stand there? Or are you gonna hug me? Come on, I haven't seen you for a year." The other two boys seemed to wake up and ran to Anna, each giving her a tight hug.

Carlos wasted no time in letting go of Anna and immediately pulled Naomi into hug as well. Kendall was another story. He didn't know what he should do; if he should hug Naomi or just shake her hand or just say hello, with no physical contact at all. So at risk of upsetting her, he settled for the latter.

"Hey, Naomi." He looked into her hazel eyes for all of one second before he started glancing around the lobby nervously.

Naomi cleared her throat, signaling to the others to let them have a minute. When they just stared at her with confused expressions, she spoke up. "Can I talk to Kendall, alone, for just a second, guys?"

James was the first to respond, tugging gently on Logan's arm to pull him away from the couple. "Come on, guys. Let's go get a smoothie, while Anna tells us what's been going on in Minnesota for the last year."

Naomi shot James a thankful look, then turned back to face the green-eyed boy. "So…"

"So…" Kendall responded awkwardly.

"How has everything been here in L.A.?"

"Good, good." Kendall rubbed the back of his neck, a habit of his when he was nervous, like right now. "Uh…" Kendall tried, but couldn't think of anything to say to the girl he had known since childhood. He had missed Naomi so much, and had thought of calling her a thousand times just to hear her voice, but had never actually followed through with that. He mostly kept tabs on her through the conversations she held with James and Logan.

Naomi regained some of her confidence. "Look, I don't want things to be awkward between us just because we aren't together anymore." Kendall genuinely smiled at her, making her more confident in herself, he just had that effect on her. "I mean, you're still my best friend."

Kendall immediately wrapped Naomi in a warm embrace, whispering in her ear. "I've missed you so much, Nomes."

"I've missed you too, Kenny." Naomi smiled against Kendall's neck, happy to be in his strong arms again.

Kendall knew in his heart that this girl was his soul mate. He just had to make her see it too. At that moment he vowed that he would win Naomi's heart back. No matter what it took. He would do anything to call Naomi his again.

"Guys, come one. We have to get to the studio." Carlos called from across the lobby. "We're already late enough as it is."

"Wanna come with us?" Kendall asked as Anna came to stand beside Naomi.

Anna was about to say yes, until Naomi stopped her with a look. "Actually, me and Anna should go unpack our things. And let your mom know we got here safely."

Kendall's smile faltered a little, but remained on his face nonetheless. "Ok, well, we'll see you in a few hours then."

Naomi nodded her head and turned to make her way to the elevator. Kendall watched the whole time as she walked away and pushed the button, waving to her as she turned around and stepped in. Naomi smiled a bright smile before disappearing behind the sliding doors.

James sighed and clapped a hand on Kendall's shoulder, making him slightly jump. "Dude, admit it. You still have the hots for Naomi, don't you?"

Kendall puffed out a breath of air. "Yeah, but she only wants to be friends."

"What about Jo?"

Kendall turned to face his taller friend. "She was just a distraction, man. I'm still in love with Naomi." Kendall had a certain gleam in his eye that James picked up immediately.

"You've got that look in your eyes." He paused eyeing his friend. "Kendall, what are you thinking?" James asked him skeptically.

Kendall threw James his signature smirk. "I'm thinking of ways to win Naomi back."

"Kendall?" James was wary of the situation, seeing as Naomi had made it clear to him on many occasions that she just wanted to remain friends with the blonde.

Kendall glanced back to the elevator, to a non-existent Naomi. "And I'm not gonna stop until she's mine again."

Kendall did an immediate 180 and made his way towards the limo that was waiting to take them to the studio.

James muttered an "Oh no" to himself before turning and following behind his annoyingly persistent best friend.


	5. A Funny Thing

The elevator dinged to let Naomi and Anna know that they had made it to the second floor. They grabbed hold of their suitcases as they rolled them to 2J. Naomi knocked on the door, and stood waiting for a minute until they heard a faint 'Just a minute' from behind the door. The front door opened to reveal Katie Knight, Kendall's little sister.

She turned back around walking away from the door, so Naomi and Anna could come inside. "Mom, Naomi and Anna are here!" Katie yelled while she slumped back into the couch, picking up her video game to continue playing.

Naomi and Anna raised their eyebrows simultaneously. Mrs. Knight came running into the living room seconds later, pulling both girls in for a hug. "You're here! Oh, this is going to be so much fun!"

Naomi smiled at Mrs. Knight's enthusiasm. "Hi, Mama K."

"I am so glad that you girls are here." Mrs. Knight sighed, almost with relief, making Anna and Naomi giggle. "You have no idea how much I've missed having you around. I swear, if Katie wasn't here. I would've gone insane because of all these boys."

Anna chuckled and shook her head. "Let me guess, Carlos has been pulling pranks the whole time, right?"

Mrs. Knight rolled her eyes dramatically. "Oh, you have no idea, Anna." She chuckled as she placed a hand on her hip. "Though, you probably would have been impressed with his shopping cart sling shot idea."

"How long was he in the hospital that time?" Anna knew what happened when Carlos tried to build his own contraptions.

Mama Knight paused to think for moment. "Two days. Concussion, one broken rib, and a sprained wrist."

"Nice." Anna smiled and nodded her head in approval. "I think that's a new record."

"That's what he said." Mama Knight rolling her eyes because she knows Anna would have been right beside him, going along with whatever he wanted to do.

Naomi looked from Mama K to Anna and back again before sighing. "Well, seeing as I'm not into all this pranking stuff, I'm gonna go put our bags in our room."

"Ok sweetie, you guys are going to be staying in Katie's room. It's right down the hall."

That seemed to get Katie's attention. "What! Why do they have to stay in my room?"

"Katie, you will be staying in my room with me while they're here." Mrs. Knight said trying to calm Katie down.

Katie turned and glared in Naomi's direction. "Fine. As long I don't have to share a room with her." She spun on her heels, and stomped down the hall to get her things from out of her room that she would need.

While Anna and Mrs. Knight resumed their previous conversation on Carlos' antics, Naomi grabbed her and Anna's bags and followed after Katie. She walked into the room and saw Katie pulling clothes out of her dresser and throwing them on the bed in a very chaotic manner.

Naomi sat down at the end of the bed, and just waited for Katie to say anything. When she realized Katie wasn't going to talk, she spoke up. "Katie, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." She spat out menacingly.

Naomi placed her hand on Katie's shoulder, Katie shrugging her hand off immediately. "You can't lie to me Katie. I've known you since you were a baby."

"Look, I'm just not that thrilled that you're here. Okay?" Katie hissed through her teeth.

Naomi was super confused by this point. "Okay…I can see that you're mad at me, but I can't apologize for what I did unless you tell me what it is that I did."

Katie scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You broke my big brother's heart. I take that personal. Don't you know he loves you?"

Naomi inhaled deeply. "He knows why I did it, and he understands that we're just friends now."

"That's what you think." Katie muttered silently to herself, remembering all the nights that Kendall had spent crying over Naomi.

"Look, Katie, I'm sorry you're taking this so personally, but me and your brother are cool. Can't we be too?" Naomi asked hoping Katie would forgive her. "It's gonna be a long three months if we're fighting all the time."

Katie smiled sweetly at her, deciding it was probably better to just let it go. "Alright, we're cool." Naomi stood to give Katie a hug, which she returned. "But if you hurt my brother again, in any way, there will be hell to pay, understand?"

"Language, Katie." Katie rolled her eyes at Naomi's comment. "Yes, I understand."

"Good." Katie smiled and grabbed her clothes, and left to take her things to her mom's room.

Anna pushed past Katie as she entered the room, and headed over to her suitcase to situate all her belongings. "So, what's up with Katie? She's usually happy to see us." Anna threw over her shoulder as she pulled out her toothbrush to go brush her teeth in the adjacent bathroom.

"She was mad at me for hurting Kendall." Naomi said loud enough for Anna to her in the bathroom. "But we're good now. I explained things to her."

The faucet was turned off, and Anna made her way back into the bedroom. "Did you explain to her how you still love him?"

"No, I left that part out…for good reason, Anna." Naomi looked down at her lap, avoiding her sisters' scrutinizing gaze. She began to fidget with her fingers and the hem of her t-shirt. Tell-tale signs that she was nervous or stressed out about something.

Anna rolled her eyes. "I know what your reason is, and trust me…it's not a good one."

Naomi sighed as she looked back up at her sister. Before she could respond to what Anna had said, her phone began playing the song 'Worldwide' in her pocket. Kendall's ring tone. She held up her index finger to Anna as she pressed send to answer the call.

"Hello?"

Kendall's heavy breathing could be heard on the other end of the line. "Hi, Nomes."

"Hey, what's going on?"

"Well, we just got done with our rehearsals, and the guys are hungry. We were wondering if you and Anna wanted to go somewhere for lunch?"

"Yea, sure. Just give us about ten minutes to get ready." Anna looked at her sister, mouthing a 'Who is it?'

Naomi mouthed back that it was Kendall. Anna nodded her head, to signal she understood her. "Great, we'll meet you in the lobby then. Ten minutes."

"Okay, bye." Naomi hung up the phone and placed it back in her pocket. "We're going to lunch with the guys in ten minutes." Naomi said to Anna, answering her unasked question.

"Alright." Anna nodded her head, and began to rifle through her bag to find an outfit to change into. She looked over and noticed that Naomi was still just sitting on the bed. "Aren't you gonna change into something nicer than that?"

Naomi eyed her sister. "No, I just planned in wearing what I got on." Naomi said as if it was obvious.

"You're not gonna impress Kendall that way." Anna said walking back into the bathroom to get dressed.

Naomi sighed and pressed her hands to her temples. "I'm not here to impress Kendall. I'm here to visit my friends." Naomi said emphasizing the word 'friends'.

"Whatever." Anna yelled from behind the bathroom door.

After thinking about for a second longer, Naomi made her way over to her suitcase. She pulled out her purple top with zippers on the sleeves; Kendall had always said that it was his favorite shirt on her, and that she looked good in purple. So she took Anna's advice and changed into the shirt and a pair of black skinny jeans with her black flips flops to complete the outfit. Taking one last glance in the full-length mirror that was in the bedroom, Naomi deemed herself ready to go.

She grabbed her purse, which was beside the door, off the floor, and headed out of the room to join Anna, who had walked out the door to the bathroom that connected to the hallway.

"I see you decided to change." Anna had a smug grin on her face, knowing what she had said caused Naomi to change her clothes.

Naomi sighed at her older sister. "Can we just go?" She asked growing annoyed.

"After you," Anna said gesturing towards the door. Naomi walked past, grumbling to herself.

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

Naomi and Anna made their way off the elevator, and looked around the lobby for the boys. Spotting them by the front door, they quickly made their way across the room. Anna turned to Naomi, noticing that she was walking just slightly faster than her. Smirking to herself, knowing that reason for this was Kendall, Anna didn't notice the large suitcase that was in her path, until she came crashing down to the floor with a hard thud.

Rubbing her forehead, where she had face planted into the carpet, Anna groaned and huffed. "Dude, could you watch where you put that thing?"

"Oh, my gosh, I am so sorry." Anna glanced for the first time since she fell, ready to let whoever this have it. Until she looked up into those gorgeous brown eyes. "Are you okay?" He asked sticking out his hand to help her to her feet.

Anna could feel her mouth hanging open while she stared at the hand. Shaking herself out of her stupor, she grabbed hold of this handsome stranger's hand. "Oh," Anna chuckled to herself, "No worries, I'm f-fine." Anna cursed herself inwardly for stuttering. "That's not the first time I've fallen."

"Well, maybe you should be more careful." He smiled a crooked smile that made Anna's heart flutter.

Naomi and the four boys watched as the scene unfolded before them, silently cheering her on. Well, except for Carlos, who was suddenly feeling this strange sense of possessiveness towards the brunette. He felt his muscles tense as Anna placed a hand on the guy's shoulder and giggle flirtatiously.

"I'll try." Anna smirked and bit her bottom lip. Her eyes scrunched up as she took a good look at the man standing before her.

"What?" He asked feeling like he was being placed under a microscope to be studied.

Anna mentally berated herself for staring at him like that. "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare. But has anyone ever told you, you look a lot like Zachery Levi?"

"Is that so?" Anna nodded, slightly embarrassed. "Then you'll probably find this funny." He reached out his hand, which Anna shook willingly. "My name is Charles, but my friends call me Chuck."

Anna laughed and rolled her eyes. "Of course they do. I'm Anna. It's nice to meet you, Chuck."

Chuck sighed, running a hand through his dark brown hair. "Listen, I know this may seem forward, but-"

"Yes, I would love to go out with you!" Anna said immediately cutting Chuck off.

Chuck smiled brightly at Anna. "Great! Umm…I'll call you."

"Yea, here's my number." Anna pulled a pen out of her purse, and wrote down her cell-phone number on the only available space, Chuck's hand. Anna heard her sister clear her throat across the lobby, silently telling her to 'hurry up already'. "I gotta go. My friends are waiting for me."

"Bye, Anna," Chuck smiled as he watched Anna walk away and wave at him.

"What was that?" Carlos asked the second Anna had turned away from that man.

Anna smiled the biggest grin as she came to a stop in front of her friends. "I got a date!" Anna said excitedly.

"Are you sure that's a good idea. I mean, you just met the guy." Carlos said, his possessive side taking over. Everyone eyed him skeptically. This was very un-Carlos like behavior.

Anna laughed at the older-brother-like tone coming from Carlos. "Don't worry, Carlitos. I'll be fine." Anna said patting him on the shoulder.

The group of friends walked out of the hotel, and up to a limo that the boys had waiting for them outside. Naomi and Anna were so excited; they were practically bouncing in their seats. Anna reached into her pocket when she felt it vibrate against her leg.

1 New Text Message

Hey, it's Chuck. How bout dinner, sat 8? ~ Chuck

Anna smiled to herself, as she hit the reply button.

Sounds great. See you then. ~ A

Hitting send, she looked up to see her sister and Carlos staring at her. "What?"

Naomi shrugged her shoulders smugly. "Nothing."

Anna turned her head in Carlos' direction, flashing him a vibrant smile, to which he had to force a smile back. He didn't know why he was suddenly feeling so protective of Anna. She had been on dates before, and he hadn't felt the need to sit the guy down and drill him with questions. But now he did. Carlos began to wonder if maybe he was jealous of Chuck. 'That's crazy. Anna and I are just friends. Right?'


	6. Defying Gravity

Carlos unwrapped a piece of laffy taffy, and placed the sugary goodness in his awaiting mouth. As he chewed on the sticky candy, he looked down at the joke on the wrapper. He burst into a fit of giggles; the rest of the passengers in the car eyeing him questioningly. "Guys, you want to hear a joke?"

"Sure, buddy." Kendall chuckled at his friend's child-like persona.

Carlos clapped his hands excitedly. "Okay, why do shoemakers go to heaven?" He paused to give his friends a chance to answer. "Anyone?" After everyone in the vehicle shrugged and shook their heads, Carlos laughed while he tried to say the answer. "Because…they have good soles." Carlos said dragging out the last word to help his friends understand the joke.

Everyone in the limo started laughing at the stupidity and simplicity of the joke. Carlos smiled widely, glad that his friends had laughed with him.

The six friends came plowing out of the limo when they arrived at the restaurant, laughing together just like they used to. Like they haven't been apart for a whole year. It's what made their friendship with each other so easy.

Naomi stopped in her tracks, and gazed up at the sign to see where the guys had taken them for lunch. "The Palm?"

"I've heard of this place." Anna jumped in, excited she knew where they were. "I hear it's really good and the food is amazing."

Naomi sighed. "So basically that means it's really expensive, right?"

Kendall wrapped an arm around Naomi's shoulders, grinning smugly, Naomi tensing when his hands came in contact with her body. "Don't worry, Nomes. We got you guys covered." Naomi eyed him questioningly, and shrugged out of his hold.

"Friends, Kendall." Naomi said, having to remind him…again, even though her heart was leaping out of her chest just at his touch alone. Kendall's shoulders slumped as Naomi walked ahead of him. James clapped Kendall on the back, silently reassuring him that everything would be okay. Kendall just shrugged and walked into the building, following Logan, Carlos, Naomi and Anna.

"How can I help you?" The hostess asked as they all walked up to the podium.

"Table for six, please?" Logan asked. The hostess nodded her head, and grabbed six menus. She proceeded to ask the group of friends to follow her. She led them to a table near the back of the restaurant, and as they took their seats, she placed their menus in front of the six teens.

"Okay, your server today will be Kara, and she'll be right with you." Everyone said their 'thank you' as the waitress turned to leave. They began to scan through the menus, deciding what they would eat for lunch.

Carlos looked up and scanned his table of friends. "What are you guys gonna get to eat?"

"Oh, I think I'll just get a hamburger." Naomi paused for a moment; her mouth dropped when she scanned the price. "Good God in Heaven, a plain hamburger with fries is $15!" Her head shook unbelievingly. "That's excluding the cheese."

Logan patted Naomi's arm from across the table. "You're in L.A. now sis. Gotta pay their prices." He shrugged, used to the price of food after a year of paying for it.

"Well, their prices are just ridiculous. I would much rather just eat off the dollar menu at McDonalds."

Kendall pushed her gently. "Come on, Naomi. Live a little. You can eat at McDonalds anywhere."

"Fine, I'll get the hamburger." The waitress walked up to the table a second later, asking if the teens were ready to order. They all ordered their drinks and food; that way they could get their lunch faster.

The six friends sat around the table chatting lightly with each other. That is, until they heard a crash behind their table and a yelp coming from Logan's lips. "Oh, man, this is my favorite shirt!" Logan said flinging the excess liquid off his hands.

A gasp was heard from behind Logan, as the girl stood back up. Her shirt was covered in the same, sticky soda that was running down Logan's back. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry." Logan looked up and smiled. "Here let me help."

"Don't worry about it. It's really no big deal." Logan said, trying to be polite.

The waitress stopped and stared at Logan for a moment. A mile-wide grin spread across her face when she realized who she was talking to. "Y-you're Logan. F-from Big Time Rush." Reacting the way any normal fan would if they met their favorite singer, she pulled out a pen and a piece of paper, from God only knows where. "C-can I p-please… have your autograph?"

He chuckled lightly and nodded. Fans, they were all the same. "Sure." He took the pen and paper from the girl's hand, quickly signing his name, and handing it back to her. She beamed, her smile just seeming to light up the room.

"Thank you so much." She leaned into to give a one-armed hug, and after she grabbed the tray that she had dropped, she turned to walk back to the kitchen.

"Wait, don't you want my autograph?" James yelled after her.

She stopped and spun on her heels. "Uh…nah that's okay. But thanks anyway." She turned and continued her way to the back of the restaurant.

James stared off into space with a confused and baffled expression on his face. "What? How could she not want my autograph?" He spoke up after a moment. "I'm the face of the band. Everyone wants my autograph." He talked mostly to himself, trying to figure out what exactly had happened.

Carlos laughed at James' muttering. "Apparently not everyone." At his comment, the rest of the table burst out into laughter as well.

James glared at his Latino friend. "That's so not cool, man."

Kendall rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Logan. "Dude, why didn't you ask that girl for her number, or at least a name?"

"What are you talking about?" Logan asked confused.

Anna rolled her eyes at her brother's ignorance. "Dude, she was hot, and she was totally checking you out."

"No, she wasn't. No one ever looks at me that way, they only notice you three." He waved his hands at James, Carlos, and Kendall to emphasize his point.

"That is so not true." Carlos said, adding in his two cents. "Camille likes you!"

"Who's Camille?" Naomi asked curiously eyeing her brother.

"She's an actress at the Palm Woods," Logan explained to his youngest sister, "but she is totally insane!" He said when turned back to Carlos.

Carlos shrugged. "Doesn't matter, she still likes you."

Logan huffed and slouched back against his seat. "I guess it doesn't matter now anyway. I'll probably never see that girl again." Kendall opened his mouth to protest to his shorter friend, but stopped when their waitress came with their food.

The group fell silent as they ate their food, only the sounds of 'mmm' coming from their mouths.

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

Naomi slumped into the orange couch after they arrived back at 2J, rubbing her stomach. "Uhh, I am so full. I don't think I could eat for a week." She said in exaggeration, lying over on the couch, using the arm as a pillow.

Kendall chuckled as he picked up her feet, placing them in his lap when he sat down. "That's a bit over-dramatic, don't you think?"

"Yea, probably." She answered with a laugh. Naomi turned to lie on her back, so she didn't have to strain her neck to look at Kendall. She couldn't help but think how good he looked after a year of not seeing him. His hair was longer and less shaggy. But he still had those same beautiful green eyes and dimples that she had fallen in love with.

While she sat there and continued to think about Kendall, Naomi didn't realize that her mouth had fallen agape while she looked at this god-like creature before her. Kendall chuckled, bringing Naomi out of her trance.

"What are you looking at?" He asked, his eyebrow rising in a questioning way.

Naomi tensed for second, trying to think of anything to fix the situation. She began laughing, causing Kendall to chuckle a little at her infectious laugh. "I was thinking about how funny your eyebrows looked. Like two caterpillars just sitting on your face."

Kendall put on a fake pout, pretending to be hurt. "You don't have to bring my eyebrows into this." He said in mock seriousness.

"Aww, I'm sorry. Did I hurt your feelings, Kenny?" Naomi said patting Kendall on the shoulder. She smirked at him, knowing full well what he was faking it.

"Yes, you did." He smiled back at her. "But I know how you can make me feel better."

"Oh? And how's that?"

His grin never leaving his face, Kendall tapped his index finger to his cheek, silently asking for a kiss. Naomi rolled her eyes, but sat up and leaned in regardless.

Just before her lips made contact with his cheek, the other three boys and Anna burst into the living room. Naomi's face heated up, and she knew all too well that she was blushing. They halted in their steps when they realized what they just interrupted. Carlos and Logan started laughing nervously, and began to back out of the room heading towards the front door. James nodded his head, at the same time that Anna gave Naomi a thumbs up, in approval.

"We'll just…be at the pool." James said winking at Kendall, who had raised his hands up in question.

Naomi looked down at her lap, shaking her head at her crazy friends. After the front door closed, Kendall looked back at Naomi. "I'm sorry." He said, remembering the look of embarrassment on her face when their friends came stampeding through.

"It's okay. It's not your fault, I know how they are." She chuckled lightly to herself. "They're my friends too."

"So, do I still get that kiss?" Kendall asked as Naomi looked up at him again.

She smiled sweetly at him. "Sure." Naomi leaned in and placed a quick peck to his cheek.

When she pulled away, she got sucked into the gravitational pull that was Kendall's eyes. Without her consent, her body began to lean towards Kendall's. His eyes started to close as he leaned forward too. Their lips were barely centimeters apart before Naomi realized what was about to happen. She immediately pulled away and jumped up from her sitting position, almost falling in her haste.

"Sorry, Kendall. I can't do this." She smiled apologetically and ran towards the room she and her sister were currently occupying.

Kendall stayed seated on the couch. He huffed and leaned forward, running his fingers through his blonde hair. "So close." He muttered to himself. "I was so close."


	7. Soul Mates?

Kendall walked down the two flights of stairs to the lobby, and made his way to the pool to join his other friends. Leaving Naomi behind in the apartment; her sobs being muffled by the pillow she had her face shoved into. James and Logan were relaxing on their favorite sun chairs, while Carlos and Anna were having a water war in the pool, assaulting each other with splashes.

James turned his head towards Kendall when he dropped down into the lounger to his left. "Dude, where's Naomi?" James said, sitting up to look around.

"She's in the apartment." Kendall sighed in half irritation, half sadness.

"What happened, Kendall?" James asked with nothing but concern for his two best friends.

Kendall scrubbed his hands over his face. "Nothing." He growled quietly. "That's the thing, nothing happened."

James stayed quiet, just letting Kendall get it off his chest. "We were so close too. But she…" Kendall stopped mid-sentence, unsure of what to say. So he settled for some rapid hand movements and shaking his head instead.

James sighed, trying to figure out how he would be the supportive best friend in this situation, when he's being pulled to different ways. "Maybe you should just give her some time. I mean, she did just get here today."

"I know, but I've been without her for over a year now. It's killing me!" Kendall fell back into his seat and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself in the warm California sun.

James patted Kendall's arm. "Well, she's been without you for over a year, too. You gotta remember that." Kendall grunted in response as James leaned back into his chair to continue his afternoon tan.

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

Naomi's eyes fluttered open, blinking as they adjusted to the darkness around her. 'When did it get dark?' She thought to herself as she pulled her body up into a sitting position. She didn't remember falling asleep, but it must have been sometime in between all her tears. She could still feel the trail marks they had left down her cheeks. 'I can't believe I almost kissed him. Way to start to start the summer, Naomi!'

She sighed as she stood, her achy joints cracking in protest after not moving for so long. After walking into the bathroom, Naomi glanced in the mirror to survey the damage. Her eyes were red and puffy and appeared to have dark circles forming underneath them. Her hair was in absolute chaos, there was almost no hope for it. She quickly ran her brush through the tangles before giving up and heading back into the bedroom.

Naomi glanced over to the corner of the room and noticed Anna sleeping in the bed opposite hers. 'Wow, I must have been pretty out of it. I didn't even hear her come in.' She shrugged her shoulders, and walked over the desk in the room to check the time on her cell phone. 1:58 AM. Her stomach, finally catching up to the early hours of the morning, began growling deafeningly. Naomi was surprised that Anna hadn't woken up hearing her tummy's screams of hunger.

As quietly as humanly possible, Naomi opened the bedroom door and made her way down the hall to the kitchen. She searched through the cabinets, her face scrunching in disappointment when she didn't find anything worth eating. So, she moved to the fridge.

Naomi's face brightened instantly. "Pudding! Yes!" She whisper yelled to herself, so she didn't wake anybody else in the apartment. She grabbed a cup off the shelf and moved to get a spoon out of the silverware drawer.

After ripping of the lid and licking it clean, so she didn't waste any of the sweet treat, Naomi dug her spoon into the chocolate and brought it to her lips, effectively silencing her stomach's cries. She sighed in pleasure as the chocolate rolled around her taste buds. With her back leaning against the countertop and 'Mmm'ing occasionally around her spoon, Naomi was completely unaware of someone watching her.

She heard a throat clear behind her; her heart beat sped up and her body tensed, thinking Kendall had just walked into the room. Turning around slowly, Naomi breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed James grinning at her from behind the counter. She rolled her eyes and smiled widely back at him.

"Don't scare me like that." Naomi took the last bite of her pudding and threw the container into the trashcan. She straightened back up and mockingly glared back at the taller teen. "I thought he was awake."

James' smile never faltered. "Nope, it's just me. What are you doing up anyway, Baby Girl?"

"I missed dinner. I was hungry." Naomi shrugged her shoulders. "What are you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep. I got a lot on my mind. You know what I mean?" James was subtly trying to get Naomi to tell him what happened between her and Kendall. Kendall had been less than helpful about the whole ordeal. So, he was gonna play the fences and see if he could get it out of her.

"Yea, I get it." Naomi headed over to sit on the orange couch. Right in the exact spot that Kendall had almost kissed her in. She had to fight to control her emotions. She refused to break down in front of James.

When she didn't elaborate on what she had just said, James rolled his eyes. Looks like he was going to have to coax it out of her. "So…I talked to Kendall at the pool today. He seemed pretty upset. Do you have any idea about what could have happened? You guys seemed okay when we left."

Naomi let out all her breath in a big puff of air. "I don't really feel up to talking about it."

"Come on, Nomes." James slung his arm around her shoulders. "I can't help fix this unless I know what the problem is."

Naomi sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder. A silent tear finally made an appearance and rolled down her cheek, landing on James' t-shirt. "I almost kissed him today, Jamie. I'm getting sucked in again." She said not meeting James' glance. "I promised myself, before I left, that I wouldn't let this happen."

James hooked his finger under Naomi's chin to make her look him in the eyes. "Did you ever stop and think that maybe this thing between you and Kendall was meant to happen?"

"Like what, fate?" James merely nodded in response. "Don't you think that's a bit far-fetched?"

"So, you're telling me that you don't believe in destiny or soul mates?" James raised an eyebrow.

Naomi raised her hands in question. "I don't know what to believe in, James." She pulled out of James' hold and leaned forward, placing her head in her hands. James rubbed small and comforting circles around Naomi's back, trying to be the best friend that he could be.

After five minutes of just sitting in silence, Naomi decided she should try to go back to sleep, even though she had slept the whole afternoon and most of the night too. "Well, I'm gonna go back to bed." She stood to her feet; James following suit. She pulled James into a hug, having to stand on her toes to reach. "Thank you for being there for me, Jamie."

"That's what I'm here for, Baby Girl." James kissed Naomi on the cheek before she turned to make her way back into her bedroom.

Naomi changed out of the clothes that she had been in the previous afternoon, and slipped back under the covers of her warm and comforting bed. But hard as she tried, she could not fall asleep. James' question was all she could think about. 'You're telling me that you don't believe in destiny or soul mates?'

Of course, she knew she loved Kendall. But could she actually believe that he was her soul mate? That it was destiny for them to be together? 'I guess it may not be as far-fetched as I may think.'


	8. Smack That

"Hey, Anna, what about this for your date?" Naomi asked holding a shirt for her sister to inspect. Anna cocked her head to the side, analyzing every detail of the fabric. Anna scrunched her face, and shook her head, declining yet another offer from her younger sister. Naomi huffed and put the shirt back on the rack. "Geez, Anna, you're such a pain to shop for."

Just as Naomi began to look through the cocktail dresses, she heard a gasp come from James. "I found the perfect outfit." James ran towards Anna, shoving the clothes into her arms.

"But…" That was all Anna could get out before James cut her off.

"Don't say anything about it until you try it on." He said grabbing her shoulders and practically pushing her into a dressing room. Naomi chuckled from behind him. He turned around to smirk at her. "So," he began, looking through a different rack of shirts, "did you think about what I said to you last night?"

Naomi whipped her head back around from where she had turned to admire a dress, her long hair fanning out beside her in the process. "Yeah." She answered honestly, knowing it was useless to lie to James. "But, I don't really want to talk about Kendall right now. I'm out to have a good time today with two of my best friends. I gotta get him out of my head. Besides, I have to help my sister impress her date by picking out the perfect outfit and accessories."

James walked over to Naomi and placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "I understand, Baby Girl. I won't bring it up again."

"Thank you, Jamie." Naomi said patting James on the arm and smiling sweetly at him. A throat clearing behind them brought both of them back into 'date help mode'. They turned to see Anna dressed in the outfit James had just picked out; a blue and white tank top with a black jacket that only buttoned halfway over it, and a pair of washed-out, faded blue skinny jeans.

Anna held up her arms in question. "What do you think?"

James smirked to himself and nodded his head. "Damn, I'm good." Naomi made a sound of agreement. "Now for the accessories. Let's go." James grabbed Anna's hand, tugging to get her to follow him. Anna pulled back, laughing silently to herself.

"I have to change out of the clothes first, James. Hold your horses."

"Fine, hurry up." He said bouncing on his heels.

Naomi put a hand on James shoulder to calm him down. "Chill, James. We have all day."

Anna walked out of the dressing room a few minutes later with the shirt, jacket, and pants draped over her arm. Naomi and James followed behind her as she walked up to the cash register to make her purchases. They sales associate told Anna the final price after ringing up the ensemble, and she pulled out her wallet to pay.

James immediately stopped her by placing a hand over hers. "Let me. I got this." He said as he reached into his back pocket for his money.

Anna looked flabbergasted. "Well, thank you, but you don't have to do that."

"I know, but I want to." James handed the money to the cashier, and she handed him back his change and wished us a good day as Anna grabbed her bags. "Alright, now we have to get shoes, jewelry, and a new purse that matches." James stated matter-of-factly.

Anna's mouth dropped as she stared at James. "Anything else?" She asked dead serious.

"Well, maybe some kind of scarf, but we'll come to that later." He said waving it off as if it was no big deal. Anna rolled her eyes. Since she was an athletic girl, she wasn't overly girly, so this was a lot to take in for her.

Naomi grabbed Anna's arm and started dragging her towards an accessory store. "Come on, Anna. James knows what he talking about."

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

After about 20 minutes, Anna finally got all the accessories that James said she needed. She got a pair of red boots, which she actually was surprised to find that she loved, a brand new red purse, two heart necklaces, which James said to wear together, and a new set of silver bracelets. "Am I finished now?" Anna was getting tired of shopping, and she wasn't hiding it either.

James turned to smirk at her. "Well, we were gonna go to lunch, but then I had one more thing in mind for you."

At the mention of food, Anna and Naomi perked up, since they missed breakfast that morning. "Great let's go." Anna said practically running for the food court, James and Naomi laughing as they tried to catch up to her.

"Feel better?" James asked as they sat down with food minutes later.

Both girls nodded their heads vigorously, taking a bite of their hamburgers. James smiled at his friends as he began to eat his own food.

"So, what is it you still plan to do to me today?" Anna asked around a bite of a french fry.

James swallowed the bite he had just taken, washing it down with a sip of his soda before answering. "I was gonna take you to get your hair done."

"Really?" Anna asked excitedly.

"Yep, you can get anything you want done to it. Cut, color, whatever."

"Sweet!" Anna's eating seemed to speed up out of anxiousness. She stayed silent through the rest of lunch, thinking about what she wanted to get done. Did she want to go dramatic, and cut her long hair short? Or did she want to play it safe and just put highlights in it?

While Anna continued with her internal debate, Naomi and James talked some more about what would look good done to Anna's hair. "I think she should cut her hair short." Naomi said imagining what her sister would look like with short hair.

James reached his hand out towards Naomi, running his fingers through her long hair. "What are you doing?" Naomi asked as James stared at her hair.

"I was thinking that you should do something to your hair too."

Naomi began to think that James had lost his mind. "Why would I do that? I like my hair."

"Maybe you should just try something different. You've had the same hairstyle since you were little." James said somewhat truthfully. In all honesty, he was thinking that Naomi should do something that would wow Kendall, but he wasn't going to tell her that. He promised he wouldn't bring it up again.

Naomi shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, Jamie. I'll think about it." James mentally did a fist pump in the air.

Anna looked up from her food and saw that James was still unconsciously raking his fingers through Naomi's hair. "If you two lovebirds are finished flirting with each other, we can go. I'm done eating." She stood up from her chair when her sister glared at her, clearly faking it, to throw her trash away. James chuckled as he followed the girls to the salon that was in the mall.

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

The front door of 2J swung open, and Anna came striding in. Confidence apparent all over her face. "Alright, I'm home now. You may all bask in my awesomeness." James and Naomi followed close behind, rolling their eyes.

"She's so full of herself." James whispered into Naomi's ear. Naomi chuckled lightly and nodded her head; Anna was completely oblivious to the exchange.

Kendall, Carlos, and Logan, who had been sitting on the orange couch watching some rerun episodes of SpongeBob, turned to glance once at the three teens before looking back to the TV for second. When realization dawned on them, they all gasped, whipped their heads back around, and jumped off the couch. "Yes, I know I look amazing." Anna said cockily.

"What did you do to your hair?" Logan asked moving to stand in between his sisters.

Anna rolled her eyes when Logan grabbed a strand of her now short, and highlighted, hair, inspecting it. "We cut it, genius. And you're supposed to be the smart one?" Anna scoffed.

"Why would you do that? Mom is gonna flip when you get home. And I'm gonna be the one that ends up getting blamed for this whole thing." Logan said not giving Anna a chance to answer the questioned he asked.

Anna placed a hand on Logan's shoulder in attempt to calm him down. "Chill, dude. Don't you go into 'protective older brother' mode. We're sixteen years old." Anna said gesturing a hand between her and Naomi. "We have the right to make these kinds of decisions."

Kendall glanced over at Naomi, who hadn't spoken a word since entering the apartment. She was looking down at her feet, clearly worried what everyone was thinking. "Well, I for one, love the new look." Naomi looked up at Kendall, smiling brightly, while he moved some hair out of her face.

"Thank you, Kendall." The rest of the group smiled at the gesture, and looked away, trying to resist the urge to 'Aww' at the sweetness.

After getting a 'thumbs up' and a pat on the back from Carlos and Logan, saying that they liked the change, Naomi and Anna walked to their room to put all of Anna's new stuff away.

Before they disappeared behind the door, they heard Logan yell at them. "I can't wait to hear about Mom's reaction. And when she blames me for it, I'm gonna say is 'It was all James' idea.'"

"Hey!" James yelled back.

"What? It was!" Logan said punching James on the arm.

"Alright, fine. I'll let you blame me this once." Naomi and Anna shut the door, giggling to themselves and thinking that they had the best friends in the entire world.

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

"Ow!" Anna yelled after her sister stabbed her retina with the eye liner. Anna started to pull away, Naomi grabbing onto her shoulder to keep her in place. "You're hurting me!" She continued to yell.

Naomi rolled her eyes. "Oh, would you just be quiet and hold still? I'm almost finished."

Naomi applied the finishing touches to Anna's make-up, coating her lips in a bright, cherry red gloss. She nodded her head in approval before reaching over and grabbing a bottle of perfume off the bathroom counter, and spritzing Anna three times; one on each wrist and one on her neck. Naomi stood back, doing a full once over of her work, and smirked to herself. "It's official. I'm amazing!" Naomi said holding her hands out to the side.

"You don't have to be so smug about it." Anna said rolling her eyes. Naomi smiled her bright smile and shrugged her shoulders innocently.

"Knock, knock." Carlos said poking his head in through the open door. Anna turned to smile at him. "Wow, Anna, you look…a-amazing." Carlos said softly, averting his gaze to look at the tile floor, cursing himself for stuttering. Since when do I stutter around Anna? He thought, trying to fight the blush creeping up his cheeks.

"Thank you, Carlos." Anna said before she playfully punched him in the arm. "Don't sound so surprised."

Carlos looked back up and laughed. "I didn't mean it that way, and you know it."

Anna beamed. "I know. I just felt like messing with you." She gave Carlos another shove, which started a makeshift wrestling match between the two laughing teens. That is until Naomi stepped in between them to break it up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. None of this, not right now." Naomi had both her hands on each of their shoulders pushing them apart. "I worked too hard and too long on her for Anna to get messed up. You can rough house when she gets back from her date."

Carlos and Anna both muttered a 'fine' and backed away from each other. Anna went to look in the mirror one last time before Chuck arrived, to make sure she looked absolutely perfect. Carlos leaned against the door, smirking at her.

"What?" Anna asked when she felt more than saw Carlos staring at her.

Carlos shook his head. "Oh, nothing. I just never pegged you for the girly type."

Anna grabbed the thing closest to her, her mascara, and threw it at Carlos, who dodged it with some serious skill. "Missed me! Missed me! Now you gotta-" Carlos began to chant, childishly.

"Would you get out of here?" Naomi interrupted and shoved Carlos out the door at the same time that James walked past him, taking Carlos' previous position against the door.

Anna suddenly began to feel nervous as the time neared 7:30pm, the time Chuck would arrive to pick her up. "James, do I look ok? You're the fashion expert here."

"You look great, Anna." He said patting her on the back.

Suddenly, they heard a knock on the front door. Anna, yelled, 'I'll get it' as she looked in the mirror again, trying to calm down her breathing. Anna walked out of the bathroom with confidence as she made her way to answer the door.

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

Chuck smiled down at Anna when she finally opened the door. "Hey, you ready to go?"

"Yeah, just let me get my bag and my shoes." Anna turned to walk away before calling over her shoulder. "You're welcome to come inside for a few minutes." She walked into her room where Naomi was waiting to help her finish, leaving the boys completely unattended.

Chuck walked into the apartment and closed the door behind him. He stopped two feet from the point of where he started, placing his hands in his pockets and rocking back and forth on his heels. He didn't say anything to the other eyes that were staring at him, doing his best to avoid any eye contact. That is until he heard music playing from the living room.

Smack that, all on the floor. Smack that, give me some more. Smack that, 'til you get sore. Smack that, oh ooh. Kendall and James stood up and started dancing and singing along to the song. Carlos hopped up a few seconds later and joined in on the fun. Logan stayed seated on the couch, looking at his friends like they were idiots.

Naomi and Anna walked down the hallway, following the music coming from the other room. Anna gasped in shock the second she saw what her so called 'friends' were doing. Naomi wore a face of equal shock as she walked over to Kendall, smacking him on the arm. "Be nice, Kenny!"

"My thoughts exactly. What do you guys think you are doing?" Anna said with evident fury in her voice. She turned Chuck around, pushing him towards the door, pausing to glare at her friends.

"Oh, nothing. We were just having a little bit of fun." James said with a sly smirk on his face as he looked back at Kendall. They began to make spanking gestures, Naomi joining in this time, with big smiles on their faces.

"Oh my God." Anna blushed the deepest shade of crimson; her mouth dropping open. "Chuck, please don't turn around?" She pleaded with him, but it was a wasted effort because he glanced back over his shoulder, and his mouth formed into a tight line, trying to stifle a laugh.

Anna huffed and rolled her eyes. "I just said don't turn around." She raised her hands in annoyance. "We're leaving now!" She grabbed hold of Chuck's wrist and pulled him out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

Naomi and all the boys ran to the door the second it was closed, pressing their ears against it to see if they could hear anything.

"Listen, I'm sorry about that. I know I need to get new friends." They heard Anna speak clearly.

Chuck chuckled to himself. "Oh, no, it's alright. I agree with them." It got eerily silent, until a very loud 'Slap!' was heard from the other side of the door.

Naomi's mouth dropped in surprise, while the four boys just "Ooo'd" in response.

"I was kidding!" They heard chuck try to redeem himself.

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

Anna followed closely behind Chuck as they made their way to the parking garage. She wasn't sure about what to say, so she just ended up not talking at all. Chuck glanced over his shoulder, smirking, from time to time to make sure that she was still behind him, causing Anna to blush under his gaze.

"You're rather quiet tonight." Chuck stated, pointing out the obvious.

Anna shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I'm just a little nervous." She smiled innocently at Chuck when he opened her car door for her. "Such a gentleman." She slid into the passenger seat before he closed the door and made his way to driver's side. "So, where are you taking me, anyway?" She asked as Chuck started the engine.

"Do you like Italian food?" He asked in a mock accent, making Anna giggle girlishly.

She composed herself enough to answer. "Yes, it's my favorite actually."

"Great." He said smiling brightly. "Cause that's what we're eating whether you liked it or not."

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

Carlos paced around the living room with four other eyes following his every movement.

"Dude, stop pacing. You're going to wear a hole in the floor." Kendall said as he stood, and placed a comforting hand on Carlos' shoulder to hold him in place. Carlos stopped and looked into Kendall's eyes, some sort of worry apparent on his face. "What's up with you, man?"

Carlos ignored his question. "Where do you think he's taking her?"

"That's what this is about?" Carlos tried to keep his face blank of any emotion, while Kendall was trying very hard to read his Latino friend. "Are you…jealous?"

Carlos scoffed the moment the words had left Kendall's lips. "What? No!" He pulled out of Kendall's hold. "What would make you ask something like that?"

"I don't know, dude. You seem pretty jealous to me." James said smirking from where he was seated on the couch.

"I am not jealous!" Carlos retorted just a little too quickly. He took a moment to pull himself together before speaking again. "I don't have any reason to be. Anna is just a friend." Carlos began to wonder why on earth he was having these feelings of jealousy. Was he starting to see Anna in a different light?

Naomi stood from her spot in between Logan and James to stand in front of Carlos. "Are you sure you don't have feelings for Anna?" Naomi asked watching every emotion flicker across Carlos face. Wonder, disbelief, acknowledgement.

Carlos shook his head trying to clear it of everything so he could think clearly. "I don't know. I mean, I don't think so."

The room got silent, and after a few minutes Logan went back to reading one of his medical books, James was admiring himself in his hand mirror, and Kendall and Naomi had flipped on the TV and were watching cartoon reruns. Carlos stood off to the side still thinking, which wasn't always a good thing. Suddenly his eyes widened from an idea forming in his head.

"Does anyone know where Chuck took Anna on their date?" He asked in a rush.

Without looking away from his book, Logan answered. "I think he said La Scala, that Italian restaurant."

"Thank you!" Carlos grabbed his shoes and his helmet and ran out the door in less than ten seconds.

Three sets of eyes turned to look at Logan, like he had grown a second head. "What?" He asked seriously. Naomi, Kendall, and James all sighed and rolled their eyes, knowing that Carlos planned to do something stupid. Though they weren't quite sure what.


	9. Green Monster Strikes

Kendall, James, Logan, and Naomi sat looking at each other. Carlos was going to do something stupid. And they needed to stop him before he got started.

"Guys, we have to go after him." Naomi finally spoke up. "He's going to mess up Anna's date. And I worked too hard, for him to go and screw it up." Naomi stood up and walked towards the front door. She paused and looked back at her friends, who were still seated on the couch. "Come on, Guys!"

The three boys jumped after hearing Naomi's outburst, and moved to follow her to the lobby of the Palm Woods. After taking the stairs, so they could get there faster, they looked around, but saw no sign of the bouncing ball of energy.

"Crap." Naomi muttered to herself. "We're too late. He's gone."

"Maybe he won't do anything that bad." Kendall said, trying to defend his friend. Naomi gave Kendall the 'you have got to be kidding me' look, and turned to walk back to the elevator. Kendall watched her retreating back with a look of longing in his eyes.

Logan cleared his throat behind him, and he turned to look at his shorter friend. "Dude, I know what you're thinking. Just go after her. We'll stay out of the apartment for a while." He said patting a smirking Kendall on the shoulder. Kendall nodded his head and raced up the stairs, like lightning.

Logan turned back to grin at James. "How is that whole situation going anyway?"

"She is being very stubborn."

Logan chuckled. "So, basically, she's being just like Kendall."

"Pretty much." James laughed, thinking about his friends' stubbornness. "You wanna go get something to eat?"

"Nah." Logan shook his head. "I want to go up to the roof, and see if I can see any of the meteor shower that's supposed to happen tonight."

James clapped Logan on the back. "Good luck with that buddy. I'll catch ya later."

Logan flicked his wrist in a small wave, and made his way to the stairs that would lead him to the rooftop.

When he opened the fire escape door that led to the roof, he noticed a girl sitting on a blanket staring up at the sky. She glanced over to him when she heard the door swing shut. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know anyone would be up here." When he walked a few steps closer, he instantly recognized her. "Hey, aren't you that waitress from the restaurant?"

She chuckled nervously, and moved a strand of her purple highlights from her face. "Yea, that was me. Listen, I'm sorry about that. My friends are always complaining about how clumsy I am, and saying that I shouldn't be a waitress because it's hazardous to mine and everyone else's health. And…" She rambled, until Logan cut her off.

"Hey, it's ok." He said with a genuine smile. Truthfully, he never thought he'd see this girl again. It's like fate was trying to tell him something. "I don't believe you ever mentioned your name, though. I think it's only fair, since you know mine."

The girl blushed, slightly. "My name's Mallory Ride, but my friends call me Max. You know, after that book."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Max." Logan smiled brightly and held out his hand to shake hers. "Do you mind if I join you?" After she nodded her head, he took a seat beside her on the blanket. "So, what are you doing up here anyway?" He asked curiously.

"Well, I heard there was supposed to be a killer meteor shower tonight. Although, I'm not sure how much of it I will actually be able to see." Max looked up, and squinted her eyes, like she was trying to see through the smog that constantly hung over L.A.

Logan felt his heart skip a beat. He had never met anyone, especially a girl, that shared his interest in the study of the stars. "You like Astronomy?" He asked in unbelief.

"I love it!" Max wore the brightest smile he had ever seen. "When I was little, my dad would take me out to this field in the middle of the night, and we would locate the constellations together. It was basically the only time I got to spend with my dad because he was always working. And I just ended up falling in love with stars at the same time." She said shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, it's nice to finally meet someone that shares my interest." Max smiled warmly at Logan.

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

Carlos poked his head (which was sporting his trusty tree hat, so he could blend in with his surroundings) out from around the plant he was hiding behind. "Time to initiate the plan." He whispered to himself as he watched Chuck and Anna sitting at a table about 8 feet away from them, talking quietly to themselves. Anna suddenly burst into a fit of laughter, which made Carlos cringe inwardly. Only he should be allowed to make Anna laugh like that; she was his best friend that was a girl.

He looked around, trying to come up with something he could do to mess up the date, so Chuck wouldn't ask Anna out again. He hadn't quite gotten that far in his plan. Carlos' eyes stopped when they spied Chuck and Anna's waiter coming from the kitchen carrying their tray of food to the table. The idea hit him instantly, like a ton of bricks being launched at his cranium, luckily while he was wearing his helmet.

As the waiter neared, Carlos began to run the plan through his head, not really stopping to think about the consequences. Seeming thoroughly pleased with himself, he stuck the tip of his shoe right in the path of the waiters left foot, sending him and the contents of the tray flying forward. Two plates of spaghetti to be exact.

A yelp was heard as the spaghetti made contact with Anna, landing in her hair and all over her brand new outfit. Her mouth hung open, while the food dripped off of her shoulders. Chuck's expression was very similar. He didn't know what to say. The waiter jumped up from the ground, and started spouting out apologies.

Anna felt tears begin to prick behind her eyes. She shot out of her chair, and made her way towards the ladies bathroom, wiping the tears that began to fall. Carlos noticed this, and guilt washed over him. He began to think that maybe he had taken things a little too far. He moved from his hiding spot to follow Anna to the restroom. It was one of those single bathrooms, so the door was locked. He leaned his ear against the door. He could here loud sobs erupting from behind the door.

He stepped back and took a deep breath, calming himself. He reached his hand up, rolling it into a fist, and knocked on the door.

"Go away!" Anna yelled, her sobs still not ceasing. Carlos steadied himself, knowing full well that Anna would be pissed at him.

"Anna, open the door. It's Carlos." He said, softly.

The door was wrenched open, revealing the red-eyed girl. She threw herself into Carlos' arms, and sobbed into his shoulder. "He's never going to ask me out again, Carlos. Not after what happened here tonight."

Carlos pulled Anna away from his chest, and looked into her eyes, mentally preparing to take all the yelling that Anna was about to throw at him. "Anna, I have to tell you something."

"What?" Anna asked with confusion evident on her face.

Carlos worked to muster up enough courage to continue. "I-I...uh…I caused the waiter…to t-trip." He couldn't meet Anna's eyes as he waited for her to say something.

Anna didn't say anything for two whole minutes, just moved her eyes around the room, looking at everything but at Carlos. Finally, she took a deep breath and let it all out in a rush. "How could you?" She shook her head slightly and turned to stalk out of the bathroom. Carlos stood frozen in the middle of the room, until he turned and followed her out of the restaurant.

"Anna, wait!" He said grabbing her wrist and turning her back towards him.

Anna looked down at the hold Carlos had on her arm, and yanked away from his grasp with surprising force. "Just go home, Carlos!" She yelled with tears still in her eyes.

Carlos stood on the sidewalk, and watched as Anna walked away with Chuck, his arm wrapped securely around her waist. "I'm sorry, Anna." He whispered softly to himself as he slumped down to the curb, placing his head in his hands. "I'm such an idiot."

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

Naomi was sitting on the couch watching TV with Kendall, whose head was currently situated comfortably on her lap. As they laughed at the comedy, they heard the front door open. Naomi turned around in her seat, and saw Carlos dragging his feet through open door of the apartment. Glancing up once at Naomi and Kendall, Carlos made his way to the room he shared with James.

"I wonder what happened." Naomi said to herself, curiosity peaked, as she watched Carlos' retreating figure.

Kendall looked up at Naomi with a smirk. "I don't know."

"I wasn't asking you, smart one." She said lightly smacking Kendall on the forehead, who just chuckled to himself. "He probably needs someone to talk to." Naomi began to move Kendall off her lap, but he placed a hand on her arm to stop her.

"Trust me, it's better if he's left alone." Kendall patted Naomi's arm, and turned his attention back to the television. Naomi sighed and nodded her head in understanding, though she still felt the need to comfort her friend.

When the show ended about twenty minutes later, Naomi looked down at Kendall to see that he had fallen asleep. She couldn't help but think how peaceful he looked when he was sleeping. And she couldn't stop herself, not that she wanted too, as she leaned down and placed a tender kiss to his forehead. You don't even know how much I love you, or how you make me feel inside.

Naomi smiled as she settled into the couch to go to sleep, that is until she heard the door swing open rather loudly, to reveal her fuming sister. The bang from the door caused Kendall to wake up with a jump, wondering what in the world was going on. "Uh-oh." Naomi said as she surveyed Anna, finally noticing the stains on her clothes. "This is so not good."

Kendall moved out of the way, so Naomi could find out what happened over the course of the night. "Anna, what happened?" She asked while she pulled a noodle off of Anna's shoulder.

"I'll tell you what happened." Anna said angrily, venom spewing in her words. "That fucking bastard," Anna pointed towards the room Carlos had disappeared to just half an hour before, "ruined my date with Chuck and my new clothes by tripping the waiter!" Tears began to well up in Anna's eyes once again. Naomi pulled her into a tight hug, silently reassuring her that everything was going to be ok.

Kendall made his way to Carlos' room and knocked lightly on the door. "I don't want to talk about it!" Ignoring what Carlos had just said, Kendall opened the door and gently closed it behind him. Carlos was curled up into a small ball on his bed, facing the wall away from the door. Even though Kendall couldn't see his face, he knew that Carlos was crying. His shoulders shook as the sobs racked through his body. He walked towards the bed, and took a seat beside Carlos, gently rubbing comforting circles onto his back.

"I heard what happened." Kendall said softly, trying to get Carlos to open up to him. "Why'd you do it?"

"I don't know." Carlos sighed.

Kendall knew right away that wasn't true. "Don't give me that crap. You had a reason."

Carlos unfolded himself, and turned to face Kendall. "I guess I just got jealous." He said, voicing it truthfully out loud for the first time.

"Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner." Kendall said in his obnoxious game show host voice. "You wanna know what I think?"

"Not really, but I don't really have a choice do I?"

Kendall pretended to think about it for a second. "Nope, you don't." He smirked as he continued. "I think you actually have feelings for Anna. They've just been buried and swept under the rug. And now that she has Chuck, you're finally realizing it for yourself."

"I don't have feelings for Anna." Kendall raised a bushy eyebrow in response, giving him that 'I know what you're trying to hide' look. "We're just friends; well, hopefully." Carlos cringed at the thought of losing their friendship. "I screwed up big time, didn't I?"

Kendall nodded his head. "I'm afraid so, buddy." Carlos looked up at the ceiling, mentally cursing himself for doing something so stupid. "You know you can deny it all you want, but I see it." Carlos looked back at Kendall questioningly. "There's a certain gleam in your eyes when you're with her. It's the same way I am with Naomi. So, I know what I'm talking about."

Carlos exhaled loudly, and threw his arm over his face, covering his eyes. "Why does this have to be so hard?"

"It doesn't have to be." Kendall said patting Carlos on the arm. Before Carlos could say anything else, there was a timid knock on the door. Kendall got off the bed to answer it. Anna stood in the doorway, fiddling with her thumbs.

"Can I talk to him for a minute?" Anna asked quietly. Kendall motioned his head for her to come in. He slipped past her and closed the door to give them some privacy.

Anna stood awkwardly by the door, not really knowing how to start. Carlos sat up and patted the bed beside him, silently asking her to sit down. She sat down on the edge of the bed, her back facing towards Carlos.

Carlos decided to take the initiative, since Anna wasn't saying anything. "Listen, Anna…I am so sorry." He said softly, but loud enough for Anna to hear the sincerity in his words.

"Why?" Anna asked, not specifying what she was asking about, but Carlos knew what she was referring too.

"I didn't really have a reason."

Anna turned to face Carlos. "That's a load of bull, and you know it."

Carlos looked down at the bed, not sure if he was ready to tell her about his newly discovered feelings. He wasn't even sure about them himself. He took in a deep breath, and looked back into her beautiful green eyes. "Ok…I was jealous." He admitted.

"Jealous of what? Chuck?" Carlos merely nodded his head. "Why?"

"Because I thought you'd want to spend more time with him than with me." Carlos answered half truthfully.

Anna raised a hand to Carlos' cheek, and he unconsciously leaned into the touch. "Oh, Carlos…just because I'm dating Chuck doesn't mean things will change between us." Oh, but they will, Carlos thought inwardly. "You'll always be my best friend." 'Yea, that and nothing more it seems.'

Carlos smiled and leaned forward to pull Anna into a hug. "Does this mean you forgive me for tonight? I know I was kind of a jerk."

"Yea, you were." Anna smiled against his shoulder. "But I forgive you anyway." Before Anna pulled away, she placed a simple kiss on Carlos' cheek.

"So, I guess this means we're cool?"

"Yea, we're cool." Anna then began to laugh out loud, and Carlos eyed her skeptically. "But James is gonna kill you for ruining this outfit he just bought for me." Carlos just groaned in reply.


	10. Breakfast and a Show

At 8:45 in the morning, the sound of the potato chip crunching resonated through the apartment as Naomi reached her hand back into the bag, retrieving more of the golden pieces. She walked out to the living room as she continued eating, and saw James perched on the couch.

His eyes shot open when he looked in her direction. He jumped off the couch, as he started his rant. "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

"Um…" Naomi looked at James confused as she slowly ate another chip. "…eating?"

James looked appalled. "Chips for breakfast?"

"Yea." Naomi said with a 'duh' tone in her voice. "Want some?" She held the chip bag in front of James' face, and he let out a girlish yelp while he backed away swiftly.

"Absolutely not!" He harshly pushed the bag away from him. "Do you how many calories are in a serving of those things? I'd have to work out for, like 3 hours to burn it off. Plus, it's like a heart attack in a bag."

Naomi rolled her eyes at James' musings. "You're just being over-dramatic."

"And," James continued ignoring Naomi's comment. "I can't believe that's what you're putting into your body first thing in the morning. Breakfast is supposed to be the most important meal of the day, and here you are eating junk. You should be eating fruit or yogurt, or something else that's healthy for you; not that crap."

Rolling her eyes for the second time, Naomi stomped back into the kitchen. "Alright, fine. I'll get something else to eat." She said, throwing her arms around in exaggerated movements.

"That's more like it." James commented when Naomi came back to stand in front of him, sarcastically taking a rather large bite of a banana. He chuckled slightly. "I'm heading down to the pool. Gotta work on my tan. Want to join me for some BFF bonding?"

"As fun as that sounds," James pouted a little, knowing she was going to say no, "I think I'm gonna see if Kendall wants to hang out today." She smiled brightly.

James' pout instantly turned up in a smirk. "Oh, really? Well, don't let me keep you from him."

"Shut up." Naomi said hitting James in the arm, and trying to hide her smile. Truth be told, she couldn't wait to see Kendall. No matter how much Naomi just wanted to remain friends with the blond, it was just near impossible. But hard as it was, she was going to keep fighting. Her resolve wouldn't crumble that easily.

James just chuckled again at the slight blush on Naomi's cheeks, which she was trying so desperately to make go away. "Alright, I'm going to the pool now." He said grabbing his things, and heading for the front door. "Have fun!" He said in a sing-sing voice, closing the door behind him.

Naomi softly glared in James' direction, even though she couldn't see him anymore. Naomi sighed and turned to sit on the couch and watch some TV as she waited for Kendall to wake up, which shouldn't be too much longer.

Carlos and Anna came running out of the hallway, laughing and carrying roller blades in each of their hands. "Hey, me and Carlos are gonna go do something stupid." Anna said excitedly as they ran towards the door.

"Have fun!" Naomi called to her from the couch. "Try not to break any bones!"

Anna stopped and turned to her sister, a smirk gracing her features. "It's too late for that warning. Carlos already broke his pinky." As if to emphasize the point, Carlos held up his hand, revealing his wrapped up finger.

Naomi held up her hands in question. "Doing what? It's only 9 o'clock." She said in disbelief.

Anna shrugged her shoulders. "I don't really know. We were just walking." Carlos let his shoulders rise and fall, then he turned and made his way out of the apartment with Anna close on his heels. Naomi just sat on the couch shaking her head and chuckling lightly to herself.

A few minutes after Anna and Carlos had left, Logan walked into the living room. "Morning, Sis!" He said brightly with a smile that was a mile-wide plastered to his face.

"Why do you look so happy this morning?" Naomi asked eyeing her brother with a grin.

"No reason." He walked into the kitchen whistling happily to himself. Naomi smirked; she knew what had Logan so happy.

"Hey?" She called to Logan about a minute later. "Could you go tell Kendall to wake up already? I'm bored." Naomi practically whined throwing her head back onto the sofa cushion.

"He's already awake." Came a reply from the other room. Naomi heard the faint sound of a beep, signaling a text message on someone's phone. And since nobody else was around besides Logan, it must have been his. "Alright!" Naomi jumped after hearing Logan shout from the kitchen.

A few seconds later, Logan walked back into the living room, trying very hard not to act like a giddy school girl. "I'll see you later, Nomes."

"Wait, where are you going?" Naomi asked curiously.

Logan smiled while heading for the door. "I'm gonna go hang out with Max." With that, he disappeared around the corner, closing the door behind him.

Naomi was left alone in the apartment, except for Kendall, whom she hadn't even seen yet. Getting up off the couch, she decided to go see what Kendall was up to, and ask if he wanted to do something. She walked down the hall towards his and Logan's bedroom. She stopped at the door before knocking when she heard music coming from the room.

With her curiosity peaked, Naomi slowly twisted the doorknob, and slowly pushed open the door. Placing her hand over her mouth, she tried to hold back a fit of laughter at the sight before her.

"I'm your biggest fan, I'll follow you until you love me. Papa, paparazzi. Baby, there's no other superstar, you know that I'll be, your papa, paparazzi." Kendall sang into a hairbrush, dancing around in nothing but his boxers. "Promise I'll be kind, but I won't stop until that girl is mine. Baby, you'll be famous. Chase you down until you love me; papa, paparazzi." She smiled, not missing the change of words as he sang.

Naomi stood watching Kendall, mostly admiring his muscles as they tensed with each dance move, until he turned around and stopped dead in his tracks. "How long have you been standing there?" He asked warily.

Naomi chuckled. "Long enough. I didn't know you liked dancing around to Lady Gaga."

Kendall looked down in embarrassment. "Please, don't tell anyone about this, especially the guys?"

"Why not? It's funny."

"Oh, come on, Naomi. I will get down on my knees and beg if I have to." He said seriously. "I'm not too proud."

Naomi sighed. "Oh, alright, I won't tell anybody." Kendall sighed in relief, making Naomi smirk. "Okay then… I'll leave you to get dressed." Kendall looked down, realizing he was still in just his boxers. A blush creeped up his cheeks, staining his face read, as Naomi turned and shut the door.

Kendall scrubbed a hand over his face, and then proceeded to finish getting ready. 'That was embarrassing!'

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

Kendall walked out of his bedroom about ten minutes later to find Naomi reading a book on the couch. He plopped down beside, startling her and making her jump. She looked up from the pages and turned to glance accusingly at a smirking Kendall. "Sorry." He said while he chuckled.

Naomi just rolled her eyes. "Sure you are." She closed the book on her lap, and turned to face Kendall. "Hey, you want to hang out today? Just the two of us?"

Kendall's eyes brightened at the idea of a full day, hanging out with the girl he loved. "Sure that sounds awesome."

"Great, what do you wanna do?" Naomi asked smiling happily. "I'm still not that familiar with the area, so you have to pick."

Kendall looked at the ceiling in thought, snapping his fingers when an idea came to him. "I got it! Let's go!" He grabbed Naomi's hand, and hoisted her off the orange couch. Naomi couldn't help but love the feeling of Kendall's hand wrapped around hers.

"Kendall, where are we going?" She asked as she was pulled down the stairs and through the lobby. She waved at James as they ran past him, still lounging on a sun chair. He just smirked back at her.

"You'll see when we get there." Kendall stopped by the passenger door of the Big Time Rush mobile, and jammed the key into the lock, opening and closing the door as Naomi slid into the seat. She shook her head as Kendall climbed into the driver's seat and started the car. "What?"

"You always do this to me." She stated matter-of-factly with a slight pout on her face.

Kendall chuckled at her expression. "Oh, come on, you know you love my surprises." He said nudging her in the arm. She just shrugged in response as Kendall pulled out of the parking garage and onto the busy highway.

Naomi smiled as she remembered her and Kendall's six month anniversary, which took place just a month before the boys left for Hollywood.

Flashback

"Kendall, this restaurant is too expensive." Naomi said as she looked at her boyfriend in front of her. "I wish you wouldn't spend so much money on me."

Kendall chuckled and reached his hand across the table to hold Naomi's. "You're my girlfriend and it's our anniversary. It's my right to spend money on you." Kendall ran the pad of his thumb over her knuckles in a soothing manner. "Plus, it makes me happy."

"You are such a hopeless romantic." Naomi smiled, making Kendall feel kind of nervous about what he was planning on doing tonight. With his free hand under the table, he threaded the small white gold chain between his fingers.

"Well, I try." Kendall smiled his award-winning smile. His heart began to pound in his chest as he mentally psyched himself up to proceed with his plans. He looked into Naomi's hazel eyes, like he could see straight into her soul, and continued to play with her fingers. "Baby, you don't know how happy you've made me these past six months."

"But I do know how happy you've made me." Kendall felt a surge of confidence at Naomi's words.

"I have something for you." Kendall said pulling the necklace from under the table.

Naomi's breath came rushing out with a 'whoosh' sound. "Kendall, it's beautiful!" He held in his hands a beautiful white gold necklace with a diamond encrusted key, which was in the shape of a heart, hanging off the end of the chain.

Kendall smiled and bit his lip, while he stood and walked up behind Naomi, hooking the necklace around her neck. "Now you can say you hold the key to my heart." She looked up at him with love shining in her eyes, and he leaned in, claiming her lips in a soft kiss before taking his seat in front of her again.

Present Day

Naomi looked out the window, unconsciously playing with the key that was nestled just beneath her shirt. Kendall noticed, but didn't say anything about it, knowing that if Naomi wanted to talk about it, she would bring it up first.

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

Logan and Max walked down the beach in Malibu, barefoot, enjoying the feeling of the sand squishing between their toes. A glimmer coming from her right made Max stop in her tracks. Bending over, she retrieved the shell from under the shallow waves.

"Look at this!" She exclaimed as she stood back up, handing Logan the seashell. Upon closer examination, he saw that the shell contained all the colors of the rainbow. But that isn't what made it so awesome.

"Wow, it's in the shape of a heart." Logan said turning over and over in his hands. "You don't see that every day." He handed the shell back to Max and they continued their walk.

Max smiled as she looked at the shell in her hand. "Yea, I'm gonna keep it. It'll remind me of you."

Logan smiled as he reached out his hand to grab Max's, intertwining their fingers together. "Listen, I know I've only known you for a few days, but there's something I want to ask you."

"Okay, go for it." Max said in encouragement.

Logan ceased their walking and moved to stand in front of Max. "Mallory," he said, resorting to her real name, "will you be my girlfriend?"

Max's face lit up like a kid's on Christmas morning. "Yes!" She said, throwing her arms around his neck, pulling him into a tight hug. Logan wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close to his heart, where he planned on keeping her for a very long time.


	11. You Can Do Anything

"Incoming!" Carlos yelled as he barreled his way past a group of teens standing by the pool with a pair of rocket powered roller blades attached to his feet.

Anna stood off the side, her facial features arranged in a look a worry. "Carlos, be care…" was all she could out before he crashed into the side of the Palm Woods with impressive speed and force, "…ful." She ran over to where Carlos was sprawled out on the ground, immediately checking for signs of a concussion. "Carlos, are you okay?" She asked shaking his shoulders gently.

"Why, yes, Mom, I would love a SpongeBob popsicle." Carlos said with a far-off look in his chocolate brown eyes.

Anna giggled when she realized that he was fine, and proceeded to help him to his feet. He grabbed hold of his head, which was, thankfully, encased in his black hockey helmet that he never took off. She held on to his arm as he swayed on his feet. "I told you to not to put rockets on the skates."

"You know it was cool." Anna rolled her eyes, but nodded her head in agreement. "Besides, I didn't see you putting up much of a fight to stop me."

"Don't pull that on me, Garcia." She scolded playfully, with a smile on her face.

Carlos laughed; Anna joined a second later. They sat down on a sun lounger, still clutching their sides, moments later. Breathing deeply, Anna finally calmed down to a slight chuckle. In that same moment, her cellphone began to play that obnoxious ringtone from the Geico commercial. Carlos rolled his eyes; Anna punched him in the arm as she pushed send and pressed the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" She answered politely. "Oh, hey...I'm doing great, just hanging out with Carlos by the pool…Sure, I would love that…Okay, I'll see you in a few minutes…Bye." Hanging up the phone, she turned back to face Carlos, who was eyeing her questioningly. "What?"

"Let me guess. Chuck wants to hang out, doesn't he?" He said sighing.

"Carlos…" Anna muttered before being cut off.

"No, it's fine. Go have fun." Carlos stood and walked back into the lobby, making his way back up to 2J. Anna watched his retreating back, feeling guilty for just ditching her best friend after she promised him that nothing would change when she starting dating Chuck.

"You shouldn't hurt Carlos like that." Anna whipped her head around to see James relaxing with his eyes closed in the chair beside hers.

She scrunched her eyes in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

James sighed and opened his eyes to look Anna in the face. "He likes you."

"What?" Anna asked in disbelief. "No, he doesn't. We're just friends."

"You've gotta be blind or completely oblivious to actually believe that. And seeing as you're looking at me right now, I'd say it was the latter." James said reaching over to grab his sun tan lotion of the wooden table beside him.

Anna rolled her eyes, and looked away from James, only to notice Chuck was standing just inside the lobby waiting for her. "I gotta go, James."

"Have fun." He said waving her off.

Like Anna could really enjoy herself now. She was too busy thinking about Carlos, and how she felt about him.

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

Laughter rang out from the front seat of the BTR mobile as Naomi and Kendall reminisced about past memories. It was effortless, as though Kendall had never left Minnesota in the first place. Naomi couldn't help but think about how much she had missed this.

"And, you remember that time when we snuck out to go see that movie our parents wouldn't let us go see?" Naomi chuckled at the memory.

"Yea, and we ended up getting caught because Carlos' mom was at the movie theatre. Wasn't too funny at the time, but when you think about it now, it's hilarious." She said trying to contain her laughter.

As they continued talking, Kendall pulled into a parking lot. Naomi glanced out the window to look at the where he had taken her this time. "Menchie's? What's this?"

He put the car in park and turned off the ignition before turning to face Naomi. "Frozen yogurt is still your favorite, right?" Without letting her answer the question, he turned and got out of the car. Naomi smirked and followed him into the fro-yo shop. 'He always remembers the smallest details about me. Maybe I was wrong to break up with him. What if we are meant to be together like James said? Like soul mates?'

Kendall walked up to the counter with Naomi right on his heels. "Can I help you?" The girl behind the counter asked, batting her long eyelashes at Kendall. He smiled back brightly. Looking at Kendall's expression, Naomi couldn't help it when jealousy flared up instantaneously. She did the only thing she could think of to make the girl stop flirting with Kendall. She snaked one of her arms around Kendall's, and glared at the girl, silently telling her to back off.

Kendall looked down when Naomi grabbed his arm, caught off guard. He glanced from Naomi to the girl and smirked to himself. He understood what was going on. Naomi was jealous. Looking back to the girl, who upon closer inspection had a name tag that read Nicole, he muttered a quick, "Uh, yea," before he looked back to Naomi. "You can order first." He said gesturing with his hand.

The girl, Nicole, looked to Naomi and grimaced slightly, waiting for her order. "Yea, I'll just have a medium vanilla frozen yogurt, please." Anyone within a five-foot radius could hear the slight aversion for the girl in Naomi's voice. Kendall's smirk never left his face when Nicole looked back to him for his order after entering Naomi's.

"I'll have a medium mint chocolate chip fro-yo with gummy bears, Oreo cookie crumbs, hot fudge, caramel sauce, and marshmallow fluff, please." He turned to see Naomi looking up at him with a horrified look on her face. "What?" He asked as he paid for their frozen yogurt.

"That sounds disgusting." She said; the look on her face just echoing her words.

"Yea, it does, but it's delicious." Nicole handed them their order while silently slipping Kendall her phone number at the same time; she also threw in a wink for good measure.

Unconsciously, Naomi had let her hand slip down Kendall's arm and he had interlaced their fingers together as they made their way to a booth in the corner. Anyone looking at them would think that they were a happy couple in love.

Releasing his hand, a blush on her face, Naomi took the seat across from Kendall. She took a small bite of her ice cream as she watched Kendall raise a bite of his crazy concoction to his lips. "How can you eat that?"

"It's good." He picked up another spoonful and offered it to Naomi. "Try some."

Naomi scrunched up her nose. "I think I'll pass. I like my plain vanilla."

"Oh, come on, Nomes. Where is your sense of adventure?" He asked waving the spoon of goop in front of her face. "Don't knock it, 'til you try it."

Naomi rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine, if it will get you to shut up." Kendall's smile stretched across his face, effectively melting Naomi's heart. He lifted the spoon to her mouth ever so slowly; her not really wanted to put the weird combination passed her lips. As the sweet treat rolled around her taste buds, her expression turned into that of what could only be described as wonder. "Oh my gosh, that's amazing!"

"See, I told you." He said acting smug.

"I still say mine is better." She said, sticking her tongue out.

"Sure it is." Kendall lifted another bite to his mouth. Naomi licked her lips subconsciously as she watched him lick the remaining ice cream off the spoon. She had to control the urge to jump up and kiss him. That certainly wasn't something friends would be doing. And it might send him mixed signals, though that ship had already sailed.

Naomi looked back down to her own ice cream, trying to hide the deepening blush that was forming on her cheeks. Just as she was about to take another bite, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and noticed she had a new text from none other than James.

Hey, how's the date going? ~Jamie

Naomi rolled her eyes and hit reply.

It's not a date, J. we r just hanging out ~ Nome

After thirty seconds another text came through.

Whatever you say ;) ~Jamie

Naomi flipped her phone shut, deciding it was better to just ignore James than play his little game.

"Who was that?" Kendall unexpected question slightly startled her.

She looked back up into Kendall's eyes. "Oh, it was just James."

"What'd he want?" Kendall asked curiously.

"Nothing too important." Naomi lied. "What are we gonna do next?"

Kendall smiled. "I was thinking we could go to the boardwalk in Venice Beach."

"Sounds awesome. Let's go!" Naomi jumped from her seat, and in her haste, grabbed hold of Kendall's hand for the second time that day. Kendall could do nothing but grin at her excitement as his heart fluttered in his chest at her touch.

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~

After spending the day at the boardwalk and eating dinner together, Kendall and Naomi both went straight to their bedrooms, completely exhausted. The first thing Naomi did was change out of her clothes and immediately laid down on the bed, falling asleep instantly.

Kendall just flopped down face first onto his bed, clothes and all, not bothering to change because he was too wiped out. Just as he was getting relaxed, he heard a light knock against his bedroom door. He groaned and sat up before telling whoever it was to 'come in'.

James poked his head through the door before walking in all the way and pushing the door closed behind him. "Hey."

"Hi." Kendall rubbed at his eyes, fighting the sleep that was threatening to overtake him.

"So, how was your day with Naomi?" James asked curiously moving to sit on the edge of Kendall's bed. He had planned on talking to Naomi first, but had found out that wasn't an option when he opened her door only to find her out cold for the night.

Kendall smiled happily, remembering how Naomi had acted at Menchie's. "It was great, dude!" James raised his eyebrows, silently asking why. "You should have seen the way she was acting when I took her out for frozen yogurt."

"Well, how was she acting?" James asked impatiently after Kendall had been silent for all of ten seconds.

"She was so jealous of the girl behind the counter at Menchie's. I guess she was flirting with me. And Naomi reached up to grab my arm, like in a possessive way." Kendall had a smug grin plastered to his face. "You know what I think?"

"You're thinking? This can't be good." James said sarcastically.

Kendall threw his pillow, which had been behind him, at James' head. "I think Naomi still likes me, but doesn't want to admit it because she's still afraid of long distance relationships."

"Impressive, Kendall. You came up with that all on your own." James said mockingly clapping his hands together. "Of course, she still likes you, you idiot. I would actually go as far as to say that she loves you."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." James said rolling his eyes. "Now when are you gonna man up, and tell her that you love her too?"

Kendall paused to think. "Hopefully soon, I just gotta build up the courage."

"Come on, you're Kendall Knight. Courage is your middle name." James said encouragingly, while patting him on the shoulder. "You can do anything."

"So, what I'm Kim Possible now?" Kendall smirked.

James rolled his eyes, and playfully smacked Kendall in the arm. "I'm being serious. You need to tell her."

"I know, and I will." Kendall said as James got up to head back to his own room.

"You better. She's just as torn as you are, trust me." When James shut the door, Kendall collapsed back against his comforter and threw his arm over his eyes. In just a matter of minutes, he was out.


	12. DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again

Naomi placed the cap back on the container of lipstick and threw it in her purse. "Okay…" She started by looking in the mirror quickly, then turned to Anna for her consent. "…Do I look alright?" She twirled in her place allowing her sister to see every angle of her outfit for the night.

"Hmm…" Anna said as she brought her hand to her chin, clearly in thought. "I think something's missing." She began to rifle around their temporary bathroom, in search of what she thought would make the outfit perfect, and what would make Kendall's jaw drop at the first glance of her sister. "Found it!" She called out excitedly.

"What?" Naomi asked raising her eyebrow.

Anna walked back over to Naomi and held up a thin, black headband, embellished with a flower attached to it just off centered. "This will make your outfit perfect." She said placing it on her head.

Naomi turned back to the mirror and smiled as she turned her head to look at the style from the side. "Thank you, Anna." She pulled her sister into a tight hug. "You're right. It's perfect." She walked back into the girls shared room, and grabbed her favorite pair of black heels. Naomi quickly slipped them on her feet, and looked once more at herself in the full-length mirror, nodding her head in silent approval. Anna mimicked her actions, making sure she looked good as well.

"Are you two ready to go yet?" James called from out in the living room, obviously sounding very impatient.

"Just a second, J-Man!" Anna called back to him, rolling her eyes. "I swear, those guys can't wait a few minutes for anyone." She emphasized with a shake of her head. "And like James is really one to talk."

Naomi chuckled at her sister's ramblings. "Come on, Anna, let's go." She looped her arm through Anna's and pulled her out of the room.

Kendall, James, Carlos, Logan, and Chuck were sitting and standing in various areas of the living room. Kendall and Chuck quickly stood from their seats when they heard the click of the two girls heels coming down the hall.

"Alright, we're ready." Naomi said as they rounded the corner. They both flashed a bright smile to all the guys. Anna removed her arm from Naomi's hold and walked over to Chuck, pulling him into a hug. Kendall couldn't help but stare at Naomi, his jaw falling a little slack.

"Let's do this, guys!" Naomi said happily, as she moved over to the counter and grabbed her cell phone, placing it in her purse.

Anna grabbed hold of Chuck's hand and laced their fingers together; she didn't even notice the quick flash of hurt that came over Carlos' features. Kendall, Logan, James, and Carlos each made sure they had the phones and wallets, and followed as Naomi, Anna, and Chuck walked out of the apartment.

"Don't forget. We have to stop by Max's apartment to pick her up." Logan said as he shot her a quick text to say they were on their way.

James placed a hand on Logan's shoulder. "No worries, Man. We weren't gonna forget your girlfriend."

~ BTR~ BTR~ BTR~ BTR~ BTR~ BTR~

The eight teens climbed out the car as soon as they arrived at the under 21 club. Logan and Chuck each grabbed the hand of their girlfriend as they all made their way up to the entrance.

The security at the door held up his hand when they up. "Name, please?" He asked as he looked down at the list.

Kendall, being the unofficial leader of the group, spoke up first. "Big Time Rush."

The bulky man ran his finger down the length of the sheet, stopping and tapping a second. "Alright, you're good to go in." He said, stepping aside.

Walking passed the man, Kendall quietly thanked him and gently grabbed Naomi's hand, a light blush covering her cheeks because of his touch, tugging her along and making sure the others were following closely behind. They all stepped inside, mouths dropping slightly at the look of the place.

There were lights everywhere. Pink, blue, yellow, green, purple, every color imaginable brightened the dance floor in wide variety of shapes and designs. Music blasted through the speakers as teens of all ages moved and swayed with each other to the beat, letting it control their every step.

"This place is awesome! Let's dance, Logie!" Max said excitedly, immediately pulling Logan to the dance floor. He let out a small yelp, and gave the rest of the group a small wave before disappearing into the crowd.

James chuckled lightly before moving to stand in front of Kendall, Naomi, Anna, Chuck, and Carlos. "Alright, I'm gonna go see if I can find a great looking guy to dance with." He said with a wink. Spinning a little on his heal, he turned and made his way into the sea of people.

"And I guess we are gonna follow their example, and dance as well." Chuck said, leading Anna, with a very large grin, away from the others.

Carlos stared after them with a sad expression gracing his features. "I'm just gonna go get something to drink." He said just loud enough for Naomi and Kendall to hear.

Kendall clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Why don't you do like James and find some pretty girl to dance with?"

"Because the only girl I want to dance with is with someone else." Ducking his head, and shoving his hands in his pockets, Carlos walked away from the other two teens towards the bar.

Naomi sighed a little. "Yea, if only she could see it and this was affecting him." Kendall glanced down at her and noticed he still was still holding her hand.

He dropped her hand gently. "She'll catch on eventually." Kendall said leaning towards Naomi a little, so she could hear him over the music.

"I hope so." Naomi said with a small shrug.

Taking a deep breath, Kendall stepped in front of Naomi, and held out his hand for her. "Would you like to dance with me?"

Naomi glanced at his hand, then to his face, looking into his beautiful green eyes. She nodded and reached out for his hand, allowing him to lead her onto the dance floor.

They walked onto the floor just as the song was changing. The familiar beat of Usher's "DJ Got Us Falling in Love Again" started to play through the speakers. 'Of course this is the song that comes on when he asks me to dance with him.' Naomi thought to herself.

Stopping in the middle of the floor among all the other teens, Kendall stepped closer to Naomi, wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her flush against him. She blushed and rested her hands on his chest, starting to move her hips to the music.

Kendall grinned widely and moved in time with her, resting his other hand on her hip, closely keeping her against him. He looked down at Naomi, locking eyes with her instantly. He leaned down a little, gently resting his forehead against hers, never breaking the rhythm of their hips.

Naomi felt her breath quicken with Kendall being so close to her again. She kept her eyes on his, occasionally glancing down to his lips, wishing to close the few centimeters between them, but resisting the urge. She heard a small gasp leave her lips when Kendall leaned in a little more, and began singing the words of the song in her ear. Letting her eyes slip shut, she rested the side of her head against his cheek, breathing in the scent of his cologne and a smell that was just purely Kendall.

Kendall pulled back, staring back into her eyes, still singing the words to her. He reached the hand that was at her hip, and gently cupped her cheek. Naomi's heart sped up in double time, losing herself in his hypnotic, green eyes once again. The world seeming to disappear around them.

Still moving back and forth to the music, Kendall started to lean in again. Only this time, it was towards her lips. Naomi felt air quickly exhale out of her body as the distance was becoming more and more condensed between them.

Snapping back into reality, Naomi pushed her hands against Kendall's chest stopping him just before his lips could touch hers. "Kendall, stop."

Kendall let out a breathy sigh, and dropped his hands, releasing his hold on her. He backed away a little, with sadness in his eyes, and looked down at the ground. "I get it, Naomi." He mumbled, just loud enough for her to hear. With a small nod of his head, he turned and made his way off the dance floor, leaving Naomi standing alone.

As she watched Kendall disappear into the crowd, Naomi dropped her gaze to the floor. "How could I be so stupid…again?" She mumbled quietly under her breath. She turned quickly when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

James was standing there, looking down at her with a small frown. "May I asked what that was about? Why'd Kendall just leave?"

Naomi ducked her head again, speaking loud enough for James to hear her. "It was me being an idiot, that's what is was."

"Care to elaborate?"

She sighed, looking back up at James. "We almost kissed again. I stopped his advances. That's all there is to it." James nodded a little, and pulled Naomi into a tight hug. She rested her head against his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist just as tight. "I'm such an idiot."

James lightly rubbed his hand over her back. "No, you're not, Babygirl."

"Then why do I keep hurting him like this?"

James pulled out of the hug, leading Naomi off the floor to a nearby table in the corner. She sat down in the seat across from him, and crossed her arms on the table before resting her head on them. James reached his hand forward, lightly touching her shoulder in a comforting way. "He's not the only one you're hurting. Maybe you should just let it happen. I know you want it as much as he does. I can see it in the way you look at each other."

Naomi mumbled into her arm. "It's just not that simple, Jamie."

"Only because you're making it complicated."

Naomi lifted her head, and looked around a little. She sighed softly when she saw Kendall sitting alone at another table, staring down at his coke as he ran his finger along the rim of the glass.

~ BTR~ BTR~ BTR~ BTR~ BTR~ BTR~

"Can I get another?" Carlos asked the bartender as he held up his vacant soda glass. The bartender nodded, and began to fill up another glass after taking the empty one.

"How many of those have you had big guy?"

Carlos turned and glanced up at a smirking Logan. "What's it to ya?" Logan held up one of his hands in surrender.

Max let go of the hold she had on Logan's other hand and moved to sit beside Carlos. "Why aren't you out there dancing like the rest of us?"

"I just don't feel like it, Max." Carlos took his new drink from the bartender, nodding his head in a silent thank you, and taking a rather large gulp of it. Max nodded her head a little in understanding. "Don't let me ruin your guys' fun. Go dance." He looked over at them with a small reassuring smile. "I'll be fine."

"Alright, dude." Logan grabbed Max's hand again, pulling her up from the chair, and away from the Latino.

Carlos turned his head, looking over his shoulder. His gaze fell immediately on Chuck and Anna dancing very close together to the beat of the music. The smile that had been occupying his lips fell instantly as he turned his head away, not wanting to look any longer. He quickly downed the rest of his drink, and stood. When he turned around, he spotted Kendall at a table by himself. He quietly made his way over, and sat down across from him. "What's eating you?"

Kendall looked up from his drink. "What do you think?" He said miserably.

Carlos nodded. "Ah, girl problems. I feel your pain, buddy." Kendall sighed a little, dropping his head onto his arms.

~ BTR~ BTR~ BTR~ BTR~ BTR~ BTR~

After dropping off Max and Chuck at their apartments, the other six teens made their way back to 2J. Kendall immediately walked back to his room without so much as a hello to his mother or Katie, who just looked at each other with a confused expression.

Naomi watched his retreating back a moment, before quickly disappearing to her room.

"Okay, what is going on?" Katie asked throwing her arms in the air.

"Problems in love, Katie." Carlos spoke up, as he turned and made his way over to the couch, dropping onto heavily. "Don't worry about it."

Anna raised an eyebrow at the Latino for a moment before following after her sister to ask what had happened.

"I'm just gonna go take a shower." Logan said with a huge grin still on his face, and made his way down the hall to the bathroom.

Mrs. Knight watched as all the teens dispersed before turning to James. "Well, did you have a fun night?"

James leaned his elbow against the counter. "I did actually." He said with a grin. "Got the number of a really cute guy I danced with at the club. His name is Allen."

"That's great, honey." Mrs. Knight said with a smile and lightly patted James on the back.

He nodded his head a little, glancing back over his shoulder, looking to where Kendall would be. "I'm gonna go talk to Kendall." He turned back to Mrs. Knight, and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Night, Mama K."

"Goodnight, Sweetheart."

James quickly ruffled Katie's hair, laughing softly when she pushed his hand away, and walked back to Kendall and Logan's shared room. He knocked lightly on the door before slowly turning the knob, and poking his head inside. "Hey, buddy."

Kendall was laying face down on his bed, and didn't even acknowledge James when he walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

Moving to sit on the edge of the bed, James placed a hand lightly on Kendall's back. "You alright, man?"

All that could be heard in response to his question was soft mumbling into the fabric of the pillow.

"I didn't quite catch that, dude."

Kendall turned his head a little, not letting his eyes focus on any one thing. "I said, 'I'm done with this'."

"What do you mean by that?" James asked slightly confused.

"This thing with Naomi…" Kendall sighed a little. "…whatever it is. I'm done. I can't do it anymore."

"You don't really mean that, do you?"

Kendall turned his head more to look up at James. "Yes, I really do. You say she loves me, but it's obvious she doesn't care about me the same way I do for her."

"That's not true." James said trying to comfort the forlorn blond.

"It doesn't matter anyway, because I'm over it." Kendall buried his face back in his pillow, mumbling for James to just leave him alone.

James nodded silently, and patted Kendall's back lightly a few more times. He stood up from the bed, and moved to the door before looking back over his shoulder at his hurting best friend. Shaking his head a little, he made his way out of the room, closing the door behind him.


	13. Who Died and Made You the King of Anything?

Carlos woke early the next morning to the sound of light laughter filtering into his ears. Deciding to check it out, he sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before climbing out of the bed, making sure to move silently out of the room so he didn't disturb James, who was still deep in slumber.

He closed the door lightly behind him, and padded across the wooden floor of the hallway to the living room. He glanced over to the couch when he heard the laughter again to see Anna settled against the cushions, a laptop resting on her thighs. His heart fluttered in his chest at the smile he saw gracing Anna's features.

Taking a deep breath, he decided to make his presence known by clearing his throat. He flashed Anna a small smile when she turned her head to look at him.

With a small wave, Anna set the laptop on the table, and turned her body to face Carlos. "Morning, Litos." She greeted cheerily, patting the unoccupied spot on the couch beside her.

"Someone's chipper today." He said, as he moved to drop on the cushions, letting his head lazily rest on the back of the couch.

"Well, why wouldn't I be on this beautiful Saturday morning?" Anna's grin spread wider, if that was even possible.

Carlos just shrugged at her rhetorical question. "May I ask why?"

"Oh, no reason in particular." Anna said in a sing-song voice. She glanced back to the laptop screen, and let out a small breathy sigh.

Following her gaze, Carlos laughed a little humorlessly. Decorating the pixels of the computer was a wide variety of pictures mostly consisting of Anna and Chuck. Holding hands, making stupid faces at each other, him kissing her cheek, etc. "Did you really just boy sigh?"

Reaching over, Anna smacked him in the arm. "Shut up!" She turned her head slightly, trying to hide a faint blush that was slowly creeping up her cheeks.

Carlos rolled his eyes a little. "Really? He's making you blush?" He asked with irritation seeping into his words. "You never blush."

"I can't help it, Carlos. There's just something about him."

"Well, I don't think he's right for you."

Anna turned her head back, her mouth slightly agape. "And why not? What do you care anyway?"

"I care a lot more than you think." Carlos mumbled silently under his breath.

Anna scoffed at his words. "Apparently not. You certainly don't act like it. Why can't you just be happy for me? I really like this guy. Can't you see that?"

"I just think there's someone better for you. That's it. I think you're settling for Chuck."

It was Anna's turn to roll her eyes at her Latino friend. "Settling? Last I checked, Chuck is pretty perfect. And I think he's perfect for me."

"Yeah? Well, I guess I just don't see him the way you do." Carlos crossed his arms over his chest in a very stubborn-childlike way.

"Oh my God. Who died and made you the king of my life?" Anna said shooting a sharp glare in his direction. "I'm allowed to date who I want, you know. It's not your decision."

"I'm not telling you who you should date, Anna. I just think you need to open your eyes to what's in front of you."

A look of confusion crossed over Anna's features as she looked at her best friend. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Figuring there was no way to explain it, Carlos took the biggest risk he had ever taken in his life. He turned in his spot on the couch, and reached his hand up to wrap around the back of Anna's neck. Before she could even blink, he had leaned in and sealed his lips over hers. She froze as Carlos slowly kissed her.

After the initial shock wore off, she felt herself start to move her lips against his as she kissed back. The butterflies in her stomach began to swarm when Carlos deepened the kiss. She reveled in the soft feel of the contact between them, and moved her hand to gently cup his cheek. Her heart skipped a beat when she felt him grin faintly into the kiss, and she couldn't help but get lost in the feeling of his fingers moving slowly against the skin of her neck.

After a few more moments, she realized what she was doing, and her mind jumped to Chuck. Anna quickly pulled out of the kiss, and stood to her feet. "That shouldn't have happened. I need to go."

Before Anna could walk away, Carlos grabbed a hold of her wrist to keep her in place. "Anna, wait. Don't go. Please?" He locked with hers, silently pleading with her to stay.

"I can't, Carlos." Anna said with a shake of her head.

"But… I love you."

Anna gasped softly. "That's not possible." Shaking her head once more, she freed herself from Carlos' grip. "I… I really need to go. I'm sorry." She quickly made her way out of the apartment, leaving a depressed Carlos behind.

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~ BTR~BTR~

Anna knocked lightly on the door of Chuck's apartment. She rocked on her heels and shoved her hands in her pockets nervously.

'How could I do that to Chuck? How could I hurt him like that?' She thought to herself, the guilt starting to eat at her. 'But why did it feel so right to kiss Carlos? We're just friends, it doesn't make any sense.'

Anna jumped a little when Chuck opened the door, quickly being brought out of her thoughts. "Didn't mean to scare you, babe." A small, almost non-existent, smirk settled on his lips. "What's up?" He asked slightly leaning against the doorframe.

"It's okay. Can I talk to you?" Anna asked, finding more interest in the designs of the carpet than Chuck's beautiful brown eyes that she couldn't get enough of any other time.

Chuck nodded his head, and stepped aside to let Anna walk in before closing the door, and turning to face her with a concerned expression. "Are you okay, Anna?"

She shook her head, but refused to speak, not trusting her voice to form the words. Chuck closed the gap between them, and pulled Anna into his arms, wrapping them tightly around her waist. "Talk to me."

Taking a small breath, Anna risked a glance up at Chuck, and spoke with a small, quiet voice. "Carlos kissed me."

"Oh."

"And I kissed him back." She said ducking her head.

Chuck sighed softly. "I was wondering when this was going to happen."

Anna nearly gave herself a whiplash when she snapped her head back up. "What?" She asked in confusion.

"It's obvious you two are closer than best friends."

Anna could do nothing but gape at him. "How the…"

"It's the way you two are together." Chuck said anticipating her question. "Definitely more than friendly feelings."

Anna shook her head a little. "I didn't even realize this. How… how did you?"

Chuck smiled a little. "You could just say I'm… observant." He said with a little shrug of his shoulders.

"I still don't…"

"It's okay." Chuck said cutting her off once again. "I know you love him."

Chuck's words echoed in Anna's ears as the realization hit her hard. They could not have been truer. "I do." She said as a small smile formed on her lips. "Oh my God. I love him."

Chuck's smile brightened a little. "Then go tell him. Be with him and be happy. You deserve it."

Anna nodded and pulled out of his embrace. She walked to the door, and turned back to at Chuck again. "Thank you." She said softly.

Chuck just waved her off and spoke one more single word. "Go." He smiled again when she turned on her heel, and disappeared out of the doorway.

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~ BTR~BTR~

Anna nearly sprinted back to 2J, and burst through the door. "Carlos!"

James glanced up from his spot at the kitchen table. "You just missed him, Anna."

"Well, where is he? I need to talk to him. And I mean, right now." Anna spoke with excitement.

"I believe he said something about the roof."

With a nod of her head, Anna was out of the apartment as quickly as she had come. James chuckled and shook his head a little, as he glanced back down at his breakfast and continued eating.

Naomi walked out of her room, still yawning a little from the restless night's sleep she just had. She made her way to the freezer, opened it up and stared inside.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty." James greeted with a smile.

Waving him off over her shoulder, Naomi reached for the ice cream.

"You can't eat away your problems." James said, trying to be the good supportive best friend.

Reaching into the drawer, Naomi pulled out a spoon and quickly shoved a bite of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough in her mouth. "Oh yeah? Watch me." She shuffled along the floor heading back to the room, passing by James.

"You need to talk to him."He called to her over his shoulder.

"He doesn't want to talk to me, Jamie."

"He might, Babygirl. You just have to try."

Naomi stopped in her bedroom door and turned back to James, briefly flipping him off, before closing the door behind her.

James just sighed and proceeded to finish his waffle with a shake of his head.

~BTR~BTR~BTR~BTR~ BTR~BTR~

For Anna, the trip to the roof seemed endless. She pushed herself faster, feeling the effect of the run in her screaming lungs and limbs. But she refused to slow down no matter how much her body protested. She had to get to Carlos. The blood of her heartbeat pounded in her ears, and she breathed a heavy breath of relief when the door leading out to the roof came into her line of vision.

'Just a few more feet...' Anna thought to herself, pushing a little harder towards her goal. She practically burst through the door, skidding to a stop a little ways behind the Latino, who was perched on the edge of the roof, his back facing her.

Knowing what she had to do, Anna took a deep breath. "Carlos…" When he didn't turn around, she couldn't let that discourage her from saying what she came up here to say. "Listen, I know you're still upset. I mean, why wouldn't you be? I rejected you. I guess… I was just scared. I know that's not really a good excuse. But after you kissed me, I panicked. I ran to Chuck. And you know what?" Still no movement from the tan boy. "He really put things into perspective for me. And he… made me realize something…" Anna paused to suck in another deep, slow breath. "I-I… I love you too. And I can't believe I never saw it before. I don't expect you to forgive me right away, I wouldn't if I were you, but… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you like that."

When Carlos still didn't turn around, Anna scrunched her eyebrows together. "Oh, come on. I just confessed my feelings for you. That's gotta count for something, right?" She stepped forward, placing a hand on Carlos' shoulder.

Anna nearly fell backwards when his head whipped around in surprise, effectively knocking the headphones out of his ears. "Anna!" He placed a hand over his heart, hoping to calm the rapid beating. "You scared me. How long have you been standing there?"

"Really?" Anna threw her hands up in slight annoyance. "Dios Mio. You were wearing headphones this whole time?"

Carlos narrowed his eyes a little in confusion. "What do you mean this whole time?"

"I just…" Anna trailed off a little, deciding it would probably be better to prove to him how she felt, than repeat her impromptu speech again. She wouldn't have remembered half of what she said anyway. "Let me just show you." She grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet.

Carlos grew a little more confused. "What are you…?" He was immediately silenced when Anna took a hold of his shirt with a fist, and pulled him into a deep, passionate kiss.

He instantly responded to the feel of Anna's lips on his again by wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her even closer against him. Carlos could hardly believe it. She was kissing him! And she initiated it! This felt like some sort of dream he never wanted to wake up from.

He got lost in the kiss when Anna's arms encircled his neck, pulling him the slightest bit closer to her body. The feel of her soft, plump lips on his was driving him positively insane. And he couldn't get enough. The fireworks were blasting like wildfires in the sky behind his eyelids as shivers raced their way up and down his spine. This was 1,000 times better than their first kiss. And he had to have more.

Parting his lips, he darted his tongue out to run it across Anna's lower lip. Carlos could feel her grin faintly against his lips as she gave him the access to her mouth that he had longed for. He licked lightly into her mouth, slowly running his tongue across the roof and everywhere, burning into his brain's memory all the spots that elicited small moans from the girl he loved.

When their lungs began to scream for air, Carlos reluctantly pulled away and rested his forehead against Anna's. He smiled a little, and placed a soft kiss on the tip of her nose, to which she responded with a small giggle. A musical melody that only had Carlos grinning wider.

"In case you missed that hint…" A small smile tugged at Anna's lips. "I love you too."


End file.
